The average cost of airfare over the upcoming holiday weekend will be more than 25% cheaper than a round-trip ticket during peak inflation in 2022.
Domestic flights over the Fourth of July weekend will cost an average of $301 — a decrease of $110 (-27%) and the same as airfare in 2019, according to an outlook report from the travel booking app Hopper. The average cost of a domestic round-trip flight in 2022 was $411.
According to Hopper, the most-booked flights this year were not to popular beach-front destinations as in other years but less-common hot spots like Las Vegas, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago, and New York City. The bulk of flights to these destinations are scheduled to depart on June 30 and return on July 4.
More than 24 million passengers are expected to depart from U.S. airports between June 29 and July 5. Most are scheduled to depart between June 29 and June 30. July 4 will be the least busy day.
The busiest airports during the holiday weekend will be Atlanta (ATL), Dallas (DFW), Denver (DEN), and Los Angeles (LAX). Airports will experience the most traffic from 8 a.m. to noon and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), people who prefer to travel by road instead of air are in luck this year. The national average gas price in the U.S. is $3.573 per gallon, down from $4.90 last year.
“We’ve never projected travel numbers this high for Independence Day weekend,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel. “Many [consumers] heeded our advice and booked early, another sign of strong travel demand.”
Hopper’s analysis showed ground transportation is also much cheaper this year. The average rental car cost is about $47 per day, a 25% drop from last year.
“What this tells us is that despite inventory being limited and some prices 50% higher, consumers are not cutting back on travel this summer,” Twidale said.
