You know what they say about rising tides. ARC's boat, we are pleased to report, is clearly on the rise, according to its settlement data for the first half of the year.
The recovery that has pushed the Dow to record heights and the unemployment rate to a five-year low has helped fuel a turnaround for the airlines, but there have been times when the trend lines for the ARC channel seemed sluggish by comparison.
Not so anymore. For the six months ending June 30, the dollar volume of ARC-processed fares and fees reached new post-recession highs, with a total remittance of nearly $48.5 billion, a 5.1% increase over the same period of 2013. At this rate, ARC could be soon looking at its first $100 billion year.
Of course, rising airline fares and fees are fueling much of this increase, but the transaction count, though still down from its historic peak, is on the rise as well. The number of transactions in June, for example, rose 5.3%, twice the growth rate for the first half of the year.
In all, the midyear report appears to be a welcome sign that the tide is in.