LONDON-- Intra-European travel will see an uptick in seats flown this holiday, up more than 10%, according to a recent analysis by the world’s most trusted source of aviation analytics, Cirium. Similarly, U.S. domestic seats flown is poised to increase by 8% compared to 2022.

The data is sourced by Cirium’s Diio Mi Schedules Tool, widely-used in aviation to analyze airline schedules for more than 1,300 airlines worldwide.

In addition, the U.S. airlines believe their customers will demand more sun destinations this holiday period. Seats flown from the U.S. to Caribbean resort destinations will increase by 18% in 2023 compared to 2022, and seats flown from the U.S. to Florida will increase by 14%. In each of Europe and the United States, Cirium compared December 22, 2023 to January 2, 2024 and December 23, 2022 to January 3, 2023 — just prior to Christmas and immediately following the New Year holiday.

In the U.S. domestic market, Cirium analysis of airfare for 2023 to September 2023 (the latest data available) indicates the average airfare for U.S. economy tickets was $182, one-way, non-directionally averaged, not including taxes and fees. In the Intra-European market, Cirium analysis of airfare for 2023 to September 2023 showed the average airfare for an economy ticket was $105.55 (€96.60 at current conversion rates).

North American airlines have had strong operational performance so far in December 2023 (to December 14, 2023) for their operations within North America, with an average on-time performance of 85.57% and only 0.4% of flights cancelled. Intra-European flying has been weaker so far in December, with 3% of flights cancelled and 69.21% of flights considered on-time. A flight is considered on-time when it arrives within 14:59 of its scheduled arrival time, commonly known in the industry as “A14.” Cirium is the leading source for airline operational metrics, closely watched by airlines and airports to measure their performance.