Thanksgiving marks one of the peak periods for the US aviation sector, and this year is no different. People travel from all parts of the nation and the world to reunite with family in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. In this seasonal infographic, we have compiled airline capacity data for 23rd-27th November to identify the busiest airlines, the countries from which travelers will arrive, and the cities expecting the most arrivals.
Thanksgiving 2024 Airline Data
As expected, the big four US airlines dominate capacity for this busy period. American Airlines has most capacity in the five day lead in to Thanksgiving, with 3.6 million seats in the schedules. Close behind is Southwest with 3.3 million seats. Delta will be the third busiest US airline approaching the holiday with 3.2 million seats and rounding out the big four is United Airlines with 2.7 million seats. The fifth busiest airline in the US between 23rd-27th November 2024 is Alaska Airlines, scheduling 0.8 million seats.
Which country do most visitors to the US come from in the lead up to Thanksgiving? Top of this list is Mexico, which accounts for the biggest share of the top 5 countries' capacity into the US, with 374,869 seats. Canada takes up about a quarter of the 'pumpkin pie', with 239,486 airline seats scheduled to depart toward the US between November 23rd-27th. The United Kingdom has 148,118 airline seats scheduled to the United States while there are 108,025 from Puerto Rico. Fifth on the list is Germany, with 77,252 seats.
And where do most people travel to for Thanksgiving? The US city with most arriving seats in the run up to the holiday is New York. Between 23rd-27th November there are 1.2 million airline seats scheduled to fly into New York City. If you keep up to date with our monthly Busiest Airports ranking you may not be surprised that Atlanta - where Hartsfield-Jackson airport consistently ranks as the world's busiest - comes next on the list with 919,676 seats scheduled to arrive. Quite close behind, and the third busiest US city for airline arrivals in the run-in to Thanksgiving is Dallas. Then comes Chicago with 820, 368 seats. The fifth city on the list is Los Angeles, where 705,902 airplane seats are scheduled to arrive between the 23rd and 27th. The list of the top 5 cities for departures in the three days following Thanksgiving consists of the same cities, in the same order.
Find more insight into the US aviation market on our dedicated US data dashboard, which is updated monthly. Subscribe to our weekly digest below and we'll send an update when new data lands, alongside a round-up of our latest market analysis and easy to digest infographics.
