Labor Day

Flying over the Labor Day holiday? You won’t be alone.

Flying over the Labor Day holiday? You won’t be alone.

Holiday travelers at airport

If you’re (finally) getting out of town and flying somewhere over the Labor Day holiday, you’ll find busy airports and full airplanes.

Airlines for America (A4A), a trade group for most U.S. airlines, expects 16.5 million passengers to fly worldwide on U.S. carriers over the week-long Labor Day travel period.

That’s a 3.5 percent increase from the 16 million passengers estimated to have flown over the same holiday period last year.

Friday, Aug. 31 is expected to be the busiest travel day of the week, with an estimated 2.76 million passengers flying onboard U.S. airlines worldwide.

On the next busiest days, Thursday, Aug. 30 and Monday, Sept. 3, there will be an expected 2.6 and 2.58 million passengers travel, respectively.

The two lightest days, no surpises, are expected to be Saturday, Sept. 1 and Sunday, Sept. 2. Those days are also historically among the lightest travel days of the year.

If the summer has slipped away from you, travel-wise, here are some fresh routes airlines are launching to spark some planning. (I put this list together for my monthly route round-up on Global Traveler).

American Airlines and its joint business partner Japan Airlines (JAL) will operate a non-stop flight between Narita International Airport and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas from January 4 to 14, 2019 to coincide with the CES 2019, the giant consumer electronics show. More details on that temporary service here.

British Airways will begin flying between Pittsburgh International Airport and London Heathrow Airport on April 2, 2019. The flight will be the only nonstop service between the two cities and will operate four days a week. More details here.

Cathay Pacific will launch nonstop flights between Seattle and Hong Kong on March 31, 2019. The flights we be on an Airbus A350-900 aircraft and fly from Seattle to Hong Kong each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights from Hong Kong to Seattle will operate Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. More details here.

 Delta Air Lines announced daily nonstop service between Detroit Metropolitan Airport and Norman Mineta San Jose beginning November 15, providing the only nonstop service between these two cities. The flight will operate on Delta’s 737-800 aircraft.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines plans to begin flying between Boston Logan Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport March 31, 2019. The new flights will be on an Airbus A330-300 and begin with three times a week service. A fourth weekly flight will be added on July 1. KLM’s joint-venture partner, Delta, currently offers two daily flights between BOS and AMS. More details here.

Korean Air debuts nonstop service between Boston and Seoul on April 12, 2019 on the airline’s 787-9 Dreamliner. Flights will operate five days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. More details here.

United Airlines will add seasonal daily flight between Washington Dulles International Airport and Miami International Airport from December 19, 2018 to March 30, 2019. During the peak holiday travel period of December 24 to January 6, 2019, the carrier will offer twice daily service between these two cities. More details here.

Where are you headed this holiday?