Spring break travel demand is picking up, driving up airfare and hotel rates.
Travel app Hopper said in a report last week that domestic airfare is averaging $264 a round trip for March and April, up 20% from a year ago and 5% above pre-pandemic levels.
Airlines, grappling with pilot shortages and aircraft delivery delays, have already limited capacity growth, which is keeping airfare up from last year.
Now travelers are going back to booking patterns common before the pandemic, flying on peak days to traditional destinations, airline executives say. That makes it even more important for travelers to stay flexible if they’re trying to save money to avoid spikes in fares.
It’s good news for airlines that are trying to make up for higher costs.
Spring break demand is “probably the best we’ve ever seen,” Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said in an interview. “Constrained capacity is real. When you couple that in with higher costs, most notably fuel, people are willing to pay [the higher fares], and the airlines need to charge it.”
Matt Klein, Spirit Airlines‘ chief commercial officer, told CNBC that there was a travel lull following the new year, when schools reopened after a longer-than-usual holiday break, but demand has perked up for trips through the spring, even beyond peak holiday weeks.
“The busiest days of the week are returning to your Fridays and Sundays,” Klein said in an interview. “The best deals and the best offers should be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays would be my expectation.”
But midweek during popular vacation periods, like when schools are off, could keep demand high all week, he added. “People will move around for the best opportunity,” he said.
Klein said that demand to Florida is particularly strong and that Spirit has boosted capacity to certain cities such as Orlando, where it’s ramped up service to hit a near-record 96 daily departures on peak days.
“There are deals available, but what consumers might not want to hear is that they’ll have to be…
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