Air Travel Set to Increase in 2012 Along with Airfares

According to a hypothesis by AirpotParkingReservations.com, an airport parking aggregator, the new year means new opportunities for travel, and U.S. travelers are going to take to traveling via air a lot more in 2012. Air travel in the United States increased around 6% in 2011 and that increase is likely to continue well into 2012 as U.S. citizens schedule more trips and increase their overall travel budgets.

AirportParkingReservations.com has seen an upturn in reservations in many different markets. Owners believe that the increased air travel trend will also be supported by increased enplanement figures at a lot of the major airports when they are released by the Department of Transportation later in the year. TripAdvisor's annual travel trends survey saw 79% of participants saying they will spend a minimum of $3,000 on travel in 2012 with 57% saying they will spend $5,000. These increased budgets will be essential since airfares are predicted to increase with the decrease in airlines on the market.

The second quarter of 2011 foreshadowed the higher ticket prices when the average domestic airfare increased by 8.5% over 2010 to $370 per ticket. In addition to that, American Airlines' recent bankruptcy announcement illustrates the industry's financial burdens, which will continue to take their toll on travelers in the form of increased ticket prices.

New mileage-based fees will also go into effect in 2012, which will only serve to further increase ticket prices. The good news is that the Department of Transportation's new rules on disclosing all airline fees upfront are scheduled to begin in the next few months, so passengers will no longer be unaware of all the "extras" they are paying for.

The economy is in the toilet and airfare prices are increasing, but that isn't stopping hard-working Americans from going on some well-deserved vacations this year. Maybe the economy is doing slightly better, allowing for these increased vacation allowances, or maybe people just don't care about money because they believe that the world is going to end this year? Hopefully it isn't the latter.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle - 2012 Air Travel Forecast Predicts Increases in Travel and Airfares

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