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More jobs, lower gas prices mean rise in Thanksgiving travel

More plane, train, auto trips expected

The heaviest travel days at Logan are expected Tuesday and Wednesday this week.Michele McDonald for the Globe/File

A stronger economy and cheaper fuel prices are feeding a hunger to travel during Thanksgiving week.

All major transportation sectors — airlines, trains, buses, and automobiles — are projecting an uptick in holiday travel, as unemployment falls and gasoline prices plummet to the lowest levels in seven years. Transportation officials are predicting crowded highways, crowded trains, and crowded airports.

The Massachusetts Port Authority, operator of Boston’s Logan International Airport, says airlines have increased the number of available seats for passengers leaving the city to 580,000, up 7.6 percent from the same 11-day holiday travel period last year. The number of available departure seats usually reflects overall air-travel demand.

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The heaviest travel days at Logan were expected Tuesday and Wednesday this week, as people strive to get home for Thursday’s traditional turkey dinners and family get-togethers.

Ed Freni, director of aviation at Massport, attributed some of the jump to the increased number of international carriers flying in and out of Logan for destinations such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Beijing. But much of the increase is tied to an improving economy, Freni said.

“People are more willing to pay for air travel,” he said. “People have more money.”

Nationally, Airlines for America, which represents all of the major airline carriers, said it expects 25.3 million air-travel passengers during the Thanksgiving travel period, up 3 percent over last year.

A spokesman for Amtrak said national rail service for the holiday week is expected to match or exceed last year’s record 772,211 train passengers. On Wednesday, the number of passengers taking Amtrak is expected to hit about 141,000, slightly above last year’s figure and well above the normal Wednesday passenger count of 85,000.

Figures for Amtrak passengers expected to come and go from Boston’s North and South stations were not available.

Springfield-based Peter Pan Bus Lines projects its ridership through the South Station bus terminal over the holiday week will reach as high as 33,000, up 8 percent over last year. Many of those passengers will be college students heading home for the holiday and returning either Sunday or Monday, said Kimberly Haile, director of marketing at Peter Pan.

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All told, about 1 million Massachusetts residents are projected to travel over the extended Thanksgiving weekend — 900,000 of them in cars, said Mary Maguire, a spokesman for AAA Northeast, an auto-service organization. That’s an increase of less than 1 percent over last year, she said, but also the seventh straight year of increased Thanksgiving travel.

Maguire cited an improving economy for the boost in travel. Over the past year, the state’s unemployment rate has fallen to 4.6 percent from 5.5 percent. Nationally, the unemployment rate has fallen to 5 percent from 5.7 percent a year ago.

Fuel prices also are plunging, due largely to increased US oil production. AAA Northeast reported Monday that the average price of gasoline in both Massachusetts and across the country was $2.07, down from $2.87 in Massachusetts a year ago and down from $2.82 for the nation last year.

Gasoline prices are now at their lowest level since 2008. “It really presents an opportunity for people to take a nice Thanksgiving trip on a very reasonable budget,” Maguire said.

Two other factors should put more people on the road: sunny skies and warming temperatures. Temperatures are predicted to climb near 60 on Thursday.

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“You can’t discount the impact of good weather on travel,” Maguire said.


Jay Fitzgerald can be reached at jayfitzmedia@gmail.com.