Airlines Cheer US Recovery

In 2014, US airlines enjoyed their fifth straight year of profitability with the nation's top 10 carriers seeing revenues rise by 5 percent while costs jumped just 3.3 percent. In an effort to continue boosting customer satisfaction, carriers reinvested $13.0 billion in products and improving the customer experience. This year, US airlines say the trend is likely to continue as the US recovery gives Americans more disposable income to spend on air travel.

The financial crisis brought on a period of cost saving measures for US families, including scaling back family holidays in favor of shorter, closer to home vacations or "stay-cations". However with unemployment on the decline and wage growth improving, Americans are beginning to look further afield for their get-aways.

said US airlines are expected to take 134.8 million passengers this spring, which would be a 2 percent increase from last year's 132.2 million.

In order to take advantage of the growing demand, carriers are planning to increase the number of seats sold by 3 percent during the March-April spring travel period. But airlines aren't the only companies gearing up for Americans' growing wanderlust— travel planning websites like

and

are also likely to see an influx of site traffic. Hotel chains like

and

could also see reservations rise as holiday makers visit new destinations.