As both airlines and travellers breathe a sigh of relief now that the recent disruption in operations appears to be resolved, at least for now, attention turns to how airlines are approaching one of the busiest weeks of the year.

This week’s Thanksgiving capacity of 20.3 million US domestic seats represents a small increase against the 20 million operated last year, as several airlines increase their capacity to cover the reductions from Spirit Airlines.

US Domestic Airline Capacity Growth for Thanksgiving 2025

Leading the domestic capacity growth is Breeze Airways, which has increased capacity by some 34% compared to last year’s Thanksgiving week, while in absolute terms Southwest leads capacity growth with 200,000 more seats on sale this year.

Low-cost carriers (LCCs) appear to be more bullish in their capacity growth as competition intensifies in the US domestic market with JetBlue, Allegiant and Frontier all growing capacity by more than 5%.

US International Airline Capacity Growth for Thanksgiving 2025

Although total capacity to overseas destinations is only some 2% ahead of the previous year’s levels, there is strong international capacity growth from a number of airlines.

Amongst the US-based airlines, United Airlines leads the way with the addition of some 37,000 seats in Thanksgiving week compared to last year, representing an increase of 9% year-on-year - while their major legacy competitors are being more cautious.

The strength of demand to and from Latin American destinations is also visible:

• Avianca add an additional 9,000 seats increasing capacity by 19% year-on-year
• Volaris adds an extra 7,400 more seats, growth of 9% year-on-year

For Air Canada, a reduction of capacity by some 11% over the seven-day period reflects the challenges of the market now, and Canadian airline WestJet is similarly reducing capacity to the US by 12%.

• Mexico remains the largest international market over the Thanksgiving period with over half a million seats scheduled for the week, an increase of 7,000 over last year.
• Given the capacity reductions by Air Canada and WestJet, the loss of nearly 27,000 seats to Canada is not unexpected, although interestingly United Airlines are operating some 10% more capacity to Canada than last year.
• The United Kingdom remains the third-largest international market, however, capacity cuts from carriers such as British Airways and American Airlines result in total capacity falling by nearly 7,000 seats this year.

With total capacity broadly looking similar to last year’s levels - albeit with some additions and reductions from a few carriers - the only remaining issue is operational reliability and the hope that no severe weather impacts travel in the coming days. If operations run as planned then despite the fears of a few weeks back, it looks like the airline industry is on track for a happy Thanksgiving.