App sessions for the top six US airlines hit new heights last month due to pent up travel demand for the Thanksgiving holiday. Sessions last month were up 69% over November 2020 and 34% over November 2019.
The top six carriers, excluding low cost carriers, are American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines.
New installs of airline apps always rise before the Thanksgiving holiday and then drop off right after. This year, potentially due to the unknown attributes of the Omicron coronavirus, the drop off has been steeper than in previous years. Comparing the five days prior to Thanksgiving to the five days after, downloads of the top six US airline apps dropped 14%, doubling the drop experienced last year.
Digging into the specific airlines of our grouping, all are expected to see new user growth (see image below) this fourth quarter compared to last, with Delta's app leading the way. Fourth quarter growth is expected to be smaller than third quarter growth for all apps except for Southwest. United is anticipated to have the largest drop in growth.
