Open Dataset
Premium-cabin seasonality
When premium-cabin demand peaks and troughs across the BTS T-100 sample. Site-wide monthly rollup, per-corridor breakdown, and example routes for the busiest peak and trough months. Pure aggregation over public-domain data.
Last updated · Reviewed by Editorial Team
Each route in the BTS T-100 sample reports a peak month (most passengers) and a trough month (fewest). Rolling those up gives the calendar of when premium-cabin demand sits heaviest across the dataset, and where it eases. The headline summary is one rollup; the corridor split shows where the demand is concentrated; the example tables show which specific routes to look at.
At a glance
Six aggregate facts about seasonality
Routes in the sample
198
Each carries one peak month and one trough month.
Top peak month
July
140 routes peaking — the densest single calendar month in the dataset.
Top trough month
February
148 routes troughing — the deepest single calendar month for premium-cabin pricing leverage.
Distinct corridors covered
8
Each carries its own peak/trough rhythm — the per-corridor table below shows where summer leans hardest.
Summer concentration (Jun-Aug)
148
Routes with peak in June, July or August. Summer-leisure dominance is structural to the BTS sample.
Winter trough cluster (Jan-Feb)
158
Routes troughing in January or February — the broadest single value window in the dataset.
Site-wide monthly rollup
Routes peaking and troughing each calendar month
Every row counts how many distinct routes in the BTS sample report that month as their peak (most passengers) or trough (fewest).
| Month | Routes peaking | Routes troughing |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0 | 10 |
| February | 14 | 148 |
| March | 2 | 0 |
| April | 0 | 0 |
| May | 0 | 21 |
| June | 1 | 3 |
| July | 140 | 0 |
| August | 7 | 1 |
| September | 0 | 14 |
| October | 0 | 1 |
| November | 1 | 0 |
| December | 33 | 0 |
Per-corridor breakdown
Where the peak and trough actually sit, by corridor
For each corridor in the dataset, the most-reported peak month and most-reported trough month.
| Corridor | Routes | Most-reported peak | Routes peaking | Most-reported trough | Routes troughing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transatlantic (US ↔ Europe) | 85 | July | 77 | February | 73 |
| Transpacific (US ↔ Asia) | 38 | July | 25 | February | 32 |
| Other short / mid-haul | 34 | July | 21 | February | 21 |
| US ↔ Middle East | 19 | December | 9 | February | 10 |
| Other long-haul | 11 | December | 6 | February | 7 |
| US ↔ Oceania | 5 | December | 5 | May | 5 |
| US Domestic | 5 | July | 4 | February | 4 |
| Middle East ↔ Asia | 1 | July | 1 | February | 1 |
Top peak month: July
Highest-volume routes that peak this month
The five biggest routes (by annual passenger volume) that report this month as their peak.
| # | Route | Corridor | Annual passengers | Floor (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York → Los Angeles | US Domestic | 4,200,000 | $650 |
| 2 | Los Angeles → New York | US Domestic | 4,200,000 | $650 |
| 3 | New York → London | Transatlantic (US ↔ Europe) | 3,250,000 | $1,850 |
| 4 | New York → San Francisco | US Domestic | 2,400,000 | $650 |
| 5 | New York → Paris | Transatlantic (US ↔ Europe) | 1,310,000 | $1,820 |
Top trough month: February
Highest-volume routes that trough this month
The five biggest routes that report this month as their trough — the natural value window for premium-cabin booking on those corridors.
| # | Route | Corridor | Annual passengers | Floor (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York → Los Angeles | US Domestic | 4,200,000 | $650 |
| 2 | Los Angeles → New York | US Domestic | 4,200,000 | $650 |
| 3 | New York → London | Transatlantic (US ↔ Europe) | 3,250,000 | $1,850 |
| 4 | New York → San Francisco | US Domestic | 2,400,000 | $650 |
| 5 | Los Angeles → Tokyo | Transpacific (US ↔ Asia) | 1,080,000 | $2,190 |
Booking-window implications
Four reading angles for the seasonality data
Peak-month premium
Routes peaking in July or August carry materially higher consolidator floors during those months. Pre-booking 4-6 weeks ahead is the lowest-effort lever; shifting one month earlier or later is the highest-impact one.
Trough-month value
February and the late-fall window (Oct-Nov) are the dataset's broadest trough zones. If your travel dates are flexible, the trough month on the route is typically 30-50% cheaper than the peak month at the consolidator level.
Corridor-specific quirks
Pilgrimage corridors (US ↔ Middle East) shift the peak around Ramadan and Hajj dates rather than tracking the seasonal default. Transpacific routes peak harder than transatlantic in summer because of the additional ULH leisure and family-visit demand.
Build the seasonality check into the quote workflow
When pricing a quote on a route in the dataset, cross-check against the peak/trough column on the airfare-trends dashboard. A request landing in the peak month should always carry an explicit "consider shifting to month X for ~Y% saving" line in the response.
Methodology
Sources and aggregation rules
The peak and trough month per route are reported in our consolidator route file alongside the BTS T-100 carrier rosters. Site-wide rollups simply count how many distinct routes report each month. Per-corridor rollups apply the same count within a corridor scope. The example tables surface the highest-volume routes for the dataset’s busiest peak month and deepest trough month — useful as illustrations of the headline counts.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does "routes peaking" in a month mean?
Should I book based on the peak month?
Why do most routes peak in July or August?
How does this differ from the airfare-trends dashboard's seasonality section?
Can I download the underlying data?
Want to book in the trough month on your route?
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