Air Travelers Avoided 41 Million Trips in Past Year – U.S. Economy Takes $26.5 Billion Hit
Source: Travel Industry Association

The Travel Industry Association (TIA) today released a landmark survey revealing that deep frustration among air travelers caused them to avoid an estimated 41 million trips over the past 12 months at a cost of more than $26 billion to the U.S. economy. Conducted by the premier, bipartisan polling firms of Peter D. Hart Research Associates and The Winston Group, the research also demonstrated that air travelers express little optimism for positive change, with nearly 50 percent saying that the air travel system is not likely to improve in the near future.

“The air travel crisis has hit a tipping point – more than 100,000 travelers each day are voting with their wallets by choosing to avoid trips,” said Roger Dow, President and CEO of TIA. “This landmark research should be a wake up call to America’s policy leaders that the time for meaningful air system reform is now.”

Dow noted that the 41 million avoided trips during the last 12 months rippled outward across the entire travel community costing airlines more than $9 billion in revenue; hotels nearly $6 billion and restaurants more than $3 billion. In addition, federal, state and local governments lost more than $4 billion in tax revenue because of reduced spending by travelers.

+ Summary (PDF; 30 KB)
+ Detailed Survey Results (PDF; 81 KB)

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Air travel, Business and economics, Transportation and travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.