The results of a new survey issued on the 29^th May highlight a significant downturn in the number of US residents travelling by air.

The poll was commissioned by the Travel Industry Association, and carried out by the Winston Group in collaboration with Peter D. Hart Research Associates. Addressing the media today, association president Roger Dow spoke of how the survey "shows that air travellers avoided 41 million trips in the last 12 months ... because of the hassle of flying."

"That's 100,000 trips a day and the cost impact to the US economy is a whopping 26.5 billion dollars", he added.

The main reasons for this avoidance, according to Peter D. Hart's Allan Rivlin, were "inefficient security screening and flight cancellations and delays."

Flight Cancellations, Delays

The research used to compile the data was carried out by telephone, and involved 1,003 participants. A little over 530 of these isolated cancellations and delays as the prime factor associated with air travel that could be bettered.

Security Checkpoints

About 360, meanwhile, highlighted security checkpoints as the areas responsible for generating the most hassle.

Around 150 considered there to be no improvements needed to the experience of flying.

However, almost 66 per cent spoke of their belief that the US air travel system was bad, and that was it deteriorating still further.

"There's a lot of frustration among travellers in general and in particular among frequent flyers", Rivlin commented.

"The frustration grows the more trips you take"

"The parts of the system that are the most frustrating are not the ones that are directly under the airlines' control."

American Airlines Luggage Charge

New measures - such as American Airline's announcement that it will impose a $15 charge on the first item of luggage each passenger checks in - could act to put even more potential travellers off travelling.

The TIA intends to urge the White House to prioritise addressing the issue of plummeting US air travel conditions.

"We need Washington to make this an absolute priority", Dow stressed.

"This has a huge economic impact. It's the way we do life and business. We need action to improve the situation."

Source - Airport International's US Correspondent

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