Commuters pass through security lines at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Terminal 1 on March 23, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Stephen Maturen | Getty Images Fewer people are flying this year, but with airfares so high and climbing, airline executives say that’s okay. The number of people screened at U.S. checkpoints is on track for its first annual decline since 2020. Major U.S. airlines have said getting higher fares is more important than completely filling their planes or flying with record numbers of travelers. “We are actively prioritizing performance versus load factor and we are very happy with how we see it. It fits perfectly with the premium investments we are making,” said the American Airlines boss. Chief Commercial Officer Nat Pieper said on the company’s earnings conference call on Thursday. American’s load factor, an indicator of how full planes are flying, fell to 83.4% in the third quarter from 86% in the same quarter of 2025. Fares continue to rise. The price of airline tickets has soared as airlines grapple with a rise in jet fuel prices, their biggest expense after labor, and pass more of those costs on to customers. Rates in September rose more than 22% from a year earlier, according to the latest inflation reading. Fare tracker Hopper said it expects this holiday season to have the most expensive ticket prices in years. Southwest Airlines’ average fare in the third quarter, for example, was $231.69, about $50 higher than a year earlier. That doesn’t include Southwest’s new fees, such as additional fees for checked bags or a seat closer to the front of the plane. However, the airline’s revenue passenger count fell 3.2% from a year earlier, to around 33.5 million people. Still, both fares and ridership exceeded Southwest’s expectations. “Passenger fares were about $3 above what our forecast was and most importantly, passenger volumes also exceeded our expectations,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said on an earnings conference call Thursday. From April, when airlines began seriously warning about profits that would be hit by rising jet fuel, through Thursday, about 9.3 million fewer people were screened at airport checkpoints compared with the same period in 2025, according to the Transportation Security Administration. While that’s less than 2% from last year, it’s the result of years of growth. With jet fuel prices more than double their levels from a year ago (as seen with U.S. Gulf Coast spot prices hitting $4.63 a gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration), airlines have been focused on recouping as much of the fuel surge as possible. Even despite some declines, airline executives said during their earnings conference calls that overall travel demand is strong, especially for profitable premium cabins like business class. And not all airlines are experiencing a downturn. United Airlines carried 2.4% more passengers in the third quarter than a year ago, and said its unit revenue rose 16%, the biggest increase since the pandemic. “I have been pleasantly surprised by the industry’s ability this year to increase yields and pass on much of the increase in fuel prices,” CEO Scott Kirby said on the company’s earnings conference call Wednesday. “Therefore, airlines are likely to continue to focus on returns at the expense of load factor and that alone could take us to double-digit margins next year.” United, Delta Air Lines and Southwest all cut their 2026 profit forecasts this month when they reported earnings. American is the only one of the four that expects to post a loss this year. American and others have also scaled back their growth plans or warned that the industry could backtrack on its capacity expansion goals, which could keep rates high. Reduced capacity may make reservable seats more scarce, driving up prices even further if demand holds up. Airlines said demand has been particularly strong for premium seats, which cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, more than economy class tickets. Read more about airlines’ race to win over big spenders. Smaller airlines that will report results in the coming weeks, including Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Air, have traditionally focused on more price-sensitive customers, which could show whether those travelers are pulling back. One factor that could also affect air travel is the demise of Spirit Airlines, which closed business in early May. “Some of their customers have likely stopped flying,” Bank of America said in a research note on Thursday.
