DALLAS — If you’re flying somewhere for Thanksgiving, expect airports to be even more crowded this year.
US airlines expect to carry 24.6 million passengers over 12 days around Thanksgiving, up 1.5 percent. The worst day: Nov. 30, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with 2.6 million people flying.
The forecast, from Airlines for America, a trade group, covers Friday, Nov. 21, through Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Its chief economist, John Heimlich, said rising incomes and job growth are helping boost demand for travel.
The increase in passengers will be offset by additional seats and flights, so planes will be about as full as last Thanksgiving. This year, American, Delta, and JetBlue have increased capacity, while United and Southwest have operated close to their 2013 capacity.
Last year, the airlines’ Thanksgiving forecast turned out to be too high by about 3 percent. Heimlich blamed bad weather that caused widespread flight cancellations. And even if airlines meet this year’s forecast, Thanksgiving travel would be about 6 percent lower than before the recession began in 2008.
In the first nine months of this year, the nine biggest US airlines reported earnings of $6.8 billion, up from $4.5 billion a year earlier, according to the trade group. US airfares rose 4.7 percent this summer from the same months last summer, after adjusting for inflation.