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About 27.3 million passengers will travel globally on U.S. airlines over the Thanksgiving travel period, up 2.5% from last year's 26.6 million fliers, according to a forecast by trade group Airlines for America.

The holiday period this year runs for 12 days, from Nov. 18 through Nov. 29, with the busiest travel days expected to be Nov. 27, Nov. 28 and Nov. 23, the group said. That averages out to an additional 55,000 travelers a day over last year's period, and carriers have prepared by adding 74,000 more seats each day through larger planes and additional flights.

The trade group said the forecast covers travel on all U.S. airlines. A financial analysis of the first three quarters of 2016 is based on nine carriers, including Airlines for America members American Airlines Group Inc., United Continental Holdings Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., JetBlue Airways Corp., Alaska Air Group Inc., and Hawaiian Holdings Inc. Nonmembers Delta Air Lines Inc., Spirit Airlines Inc. and Allegiant Travel Co. also are included.

During the first nine months of this year, those nine carriers posted a combined pretax profit of $18.3 billion, resulting in a margin of 15.5%, down slightly from the 15.6% pretax margin in the year-earlier period, Airlines for America said.

Their largest operating expense, labor, increased 8.5% during the first nine months, resulting in $3.6 billion in spending a month on wages and benefits. August was the 34th consecutive month of year-over-year employment gains, bringing the 2016 workforce to 408,000, an increase of 30,500 since 2010.

Revenues for the nine months slipped 1.8%, due in large part to lower airfares, which declined 5.6% from the prior-year period. Expenses declined 0.8% as a 22% decrease in fuel prices helped offset increases in other costs, the trade group said.

Write to Susan Carey at susan.carey@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications: An air-travel forecast for the Thanksgiving holiday period by the Airlines for America trade group is based on the entire U.S. airline industry, while a financial analysis covers just nine carriers. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the air-travel forecast included only nine carriers. (Nov. 2, 2016)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 02, 2016 11:55 ET (15:55 GMT)

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