Airlines Reporting Council: Travel agencies have a 41% share of US airline ticket sales

27 March, 2018

Airlines Reporting Council (ARC) executive VP and COO Lauri Reishus, at UATP Airline Distribution 2018, stated (21-Mar-2018) annual direct sales through airline websites in the US amount to USD129 billion, with travel agency sales accounting for a further USD88 billion, giving a total of USD217 billion. This means that travel agencies have a 41% share of US airline ticket sales. Ms Reishus said that one way tickets had increased as a share of total tickets from 26.6% in early 2014 to 43.2% in 2017. She added that most travellers do actually return home and that agencies were creating round trips with one way tickets on different airlines.