Philadelphia – Be ready to cozy up to your seatmate if you’re planning to take an airline flight this summer.
In an effort to cut costs, the nation’s airlines have trimmed the number of flights they will operate between June 1 and Aug. 31. But the cuts come at a time of rising demand, leading to a capacity crunch.
In Denver, airlines have added flights, but a record number of passengers means planes will still be crowded.
U.S. airlines expect to fly about 207 million passengers this summer, or 1 percent more than the record number they transported in the same three months last year, industry officials say.
About 21 million people will fly on U.S. airlines’ domestic and international flights in the last 10 days of May, 2 percent more than in the same period last year, the Air Transport Association trade group estimates.
More flights than ever will take off with every seat filled. About 80 percent to 85 percent of all available seats on most airlines will be occupied this summer, the trade group said.
“I don’t remember being on a flight with an empty seat,” said Jeff Cantwell, a sales executive from West Chester, Pa., who flies practically every week. “Recently I’ve been flying more on United and Northwest, and I’ve seen that on all the flights, on the big planes and the little ones.”
Deep financial problems the past five years prompted many airlines to take hundreds of older airplanes out of their fleets. The average number of U.S. domestic flights will be down 4 percent this summer from last summer and the number of available seats down 4.6 percent, according to eSkyGuide, an online service of American Express Co.’s publishing division.
At the same time, international air service has been growing, with the number of foreign flights per week up 1.1 percent and the average number of available seats up 2.3 percent this summer over last year, said eSky Guide.
