The new year brings the air travel industry to new highs.
Passenger numbers have recovered
For the first time since pre-pandemic, the number of passengers screened by the Transportation Security Agency in January 2023 has exceeded January 2019. 60,548,344 passengers were screened over the first 31 days of the year, an increase of 3.3% versus the same period 4 years earlier (58.6M).
This is great news for the travel and tourism industry- and for JCDecaux Airport advertisers! Our national airport network has continued to lead the country’s air travel recovery. Year end figures from our airports* report a staggering 400,491, 155+ passengers throughout 2022- accounting for nearly a third of the approximately 1.5 billion passengers reported by the TSA.
While domestic travel was the driving force for the growth in U.S. air travel throughout 2021 and early 2022, the returning international and business travel audiences will be key drivers for rising passenger counts in 2023.
Business travelers
According to American Express Global Business Travel, business travel reached 71% of pre-pandemic levels in Q3 of 2022- a faster recovery than many predicted. 2023 is expected to do even better, with predicted increases of +18% and +16% for domestic and international business travel respectively (GBTA, 2022 / Attest Survey, December 2022).
international travel
The return of Chinese travel has been highly anticipated since borders closed in 2020- considered by CNN to be the “the world’s most important source of international travelers.” In 2019, China averaged approximately 12M outbound air passengers each month. Bookings for Lunar New Year jumped 540% versus last year, and some expect travel to return to 50% of outbound monthly travel levels by the summer.
As the key gateway to the U.S. from China, LAX is poised for an uptick in international traffic following this reopening! In 2019, the airport had nearly 900,000 travelers passing in each direction, and the number of connecting passengers to elsewhere in the U.S. jumped by 35% YOY in March 2019.
With all this good news a month into the year, airport advertising is in for a good 2023!