Airline bookings improved again in the latest week as higher pricing continues to be a major factor in the industry.
Bank of America reported that system net sales were just 2.9% below the level of 2019 for the week ending September 18 vs. -6.0% for the prior week. Pricing was 5.2% higher for the week in comparison to 2019, while system volume decelerated to down -7.7% vs. 2019.
Corporate channel sales improved again for the week with better pricing more than offsetting a slight step back in volume.
In terms of website traffic, strength was noted for United Airlines ( NASDAQ: UAL ), while Hawaiian Airlines ( HA ) and Alaska Airlines ( ALK ) have seemed to show some early indications that consumers may be pulling back on high-end vacations plans.
BofA analyst Andrew Didora said overall September airline bookings data has been choppy, but generally corporate is modestly improving this fall.
Delta Airlines ( DAL ), United Airlines ( UAL ), and American Airlines Group ( AAL ) were all down about 1% in premarket action on Monday. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) and JetBlue Airways ( JBLU ) were showing 0.30% drops.
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Airline bookings remain solid as higher fares, corporate demand stand out