U.S. Total Air Ticket Sales Up 15%, Passenger Trips Remain Flat

Airline Reporting Corp. (ARC) on Thursday released its monthly air ticket sales data for May 2026, and, once again, the numbers show a resilient travel industry, despite price pressures.

Total sales are up 15% year-over-year, a big number, but that is mostly driven by an 18% increase in the average ticket price, an increase largely due to the rise in oil prices over the past few months: fuel prices climbed significantly from about $6.24 per gallon in December 2025 to $8.07 per gallon in May 2026—a 29.3% surge in just six months.

These figures reflect agency-booked travel and exclude direct bookings made straight through airline websites.

The more encouraging news is that even with that ticket price increase, passenger trips are flat year-over-year, though there’s a 3% dip from April. A total of 25.7 million passenger trips were settled in May, matching the volume from May 2025. Both domestic (+1%) and international travel (-1%) remain relatively flat.

For the ticket price increases, the average economy class ticket price (+20%) is under more pressure than the premium class ticket price (+14%).

“The May sales data indicates that air travel demand continues to endure, despite evolving economic, and political circumstances,” said Steve Solomon, ARC’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Travelers are showing a continued prioritization of travel, keeping overall demand steady as we begin the summer travel season.”

With those May numbers, each month of 2026 saw more passenger trips that the same month in 2025, another encouraging sign for the industry.