ARC: Air Ticket Sales Jump 5% in August as Average Fare Hits $624

Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) this week released its travel agency air ticket data from August, another strong month for the travel industry.

The numbers again show that more and more people are traveling-U.S. domestic trips at 16.5 million were up 5% year over year, as were international trips, which were at 9.3 million, also up 5% year over year.

The bigger change, however, is coming in the average air ticket price. The average overall air ticket was up to $624 in August, a 17% increase year over year. Both economy ($569, up 17% year over year) and premium ($1,454, up 11% year over year) were up more than double digits as high oil prices continue to weigh on travel costs.

Those ticket prices aren’t yet weighing heavily on the travel volume tracked by ARC, though other numbers did show a cooling off later in the summer.

That includes passenger volume tracked by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). TSA officers screened 204.1 million travelers at U.S. airport checkpoints between late June and early September-a 2.7% drop (5.76 million fewer passengers) compared to the same 79-day window last summer. August registered the sharpest drop (down 4.4%).