Fewer fliers forecast for this summer

Amid a sour economy and higher airfares, the U.S. airlines' trade group Tuesday forecast the biggest decline in summer air travel since the summer after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Air Transport Association, which represents the 13 biggest U.S. passenger carriers, forecast 211.5 million passengers will fly on U.S. carriers June1 through Aug.31, a nearly 1.3% drop from last summer.

Passenger traffic on flights within the USA will be down almost 2%, while the number of passengers on international flights will be up slightly, the ATA predicted. The forecast is based largely on summer flight schedules and trends in fares and passenger traffic.

If the forecast holds true, this summer will see the first falloff in summer passenger traffic since summer 2006, when the arrests of London terrorists plotting to bomb airplanes prompted tighter security restrictions and frightened off some travelers. The number of ...