With millions of Americans booking last-minute Thanksgiving getaways, domestic airfares surged to their highest levels of 2025.

A sudden contraction in airline capacity, government-imposed flight reductions and Spirit Airlines' route pullbacks during its bankruptcy restructuring upped prices.

According to Goldman Sachs economist Catherine O’Brien, U.S. domestic airfares for travel next week are up 22% on average across 20 major routes—marking the strongest fare performance of the year.

That’s a steep climb from 14% two weeks ago, O’Brien wrote in her research note, which was shared Friday.

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Which Routes Are Driving The Surge In Airfares?

The sharpest airfare hikes are heavily concentrated in markets where either capacity has been slashed or budget carriers like Spirit Airlines have pulled back.

According to data compiled by Goldman Sachs as of November 5, one of the most dramatic examples is the Atlanta-to-Las Vegas corridor, where fares soared 502% year-over-year on a four-week moving average. Spirit Airlines, previously a major player on that route, recently cut its weekly flights by half.

Chicago-to-San Francisco is another standout, with prices up 95% this week and 56% on a four-week basis, signaling both ...