Holiday Travel Begins, Lower Volumes Seen

[dbaker]

Holiday Travel Begins, Lower Volumes Seen

Unlike Thanksgiving, when travel is squeezed into a five-day period, Christmas holiday travel stretches out longer -- and that should ease congestion even as security remains heightened.

Nearly 40 million airline passengers are forecast to fly in the three weeks surrounding the winter holidays, according to the Air Transport Association.

The American Automobile Association predicts almost 11.5 million people will fly during the Christmas-New Year period alone, a 20 percent decline from the year-ago period.

That is slightly better than Thanksgiving, when travel was off roughly 25 percent, AAA said. Almost 42.2 million people expect to go by car, a decline of only 1 percent from last year.

[dbaker]

Holiday Travel Begins, Lower Volumes Seen

Unlike Thanksgiving, when travel is squeezed into a five-day period, Christmas holiday travel stretches out longer -- and that should ease congestion even as security remains heightened.

Nearly 40 million airline passengers are forecast to fly in the three weeks surrounding the winter holidays, according to the Air Transport Association.

The American Automobile Association predicts almost 11.5 million people will fly during the Christmas-New Year period alone, a 20 percent decline from the year-ago period.

That is slightly better than Thanksgiving, when travel was off roughly 25 percent, AAA said. Almost 42.2 million people expect to go by car, a decline of only 1 percent from last year.