Flights are getting a whole lot cheaper as airlines rush to fill empty seats by the end of the year.
Airlines have a record 260 million seats to fill by the end of the fourth quarter, which is up by nearly 8% from last year, according to information obtained by CNBC from aviation data firm Cirium.
To hit their goal, some airlines are offering flights at low fares, including Southwest Airlines, which offered a sale of one-way fights from Atlanta to Nashville, Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and more in the early morning and late evening starting at $29.
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Southwest’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ryan Green, told reporters at the Skift Aviation Forum that the airline is discounting flights and offering sales “a bit more than normal” due to the increased flight capacity, and thus the need to fill more seats, per CNBC.
From September to October 2023, airline capacity increased by 2.1%, according to OAG’s Airline Frequency and Capacity Trend Statistics Report, which is up 0.8% from 2019.
Apart from Southwest, Spirit is also offering flights for just $48.73, per CNBC.
Meanwhile, the cost of airline tickets is down by 13% from September 2022, according to NerdWallet’s Travel Inflation Report for November 2023.
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In addition to Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit, and Frontier Airlines have reported fare drops between 12% to 32% compared to the previous year.
