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Flying home for the holidays could take a bigger bite out of Oregonians’ wallets this year. Airfares are climbing, jet fuel remains expensive and airlines have cut seats on some popular routes out of Portland, even as overall service at Portland International Airport grows. Hopper, a travel booking company and airfare aggregator, estimates Thanksgiving and Christmas fares nationwide are up 31% and 23%, respectively, reaching their highest levels in a decade. And Portland travelers were already paying more before the holiday booking rush. The average domestic airfare from PDX reached about $437 in the second quarter of 2026, up nearly 14% from $384 a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Nationally, the average rose 15.5%, from $386 to $445. But higher prices haven’t stopped people from flying. Airlines say demand for air travel remains strong. Port of Portland officials expect more than 1.4 million travelers to pass through PDX during the Thanksgiving and December holiday travel periods, up about 7% from a year ago. The forecast follows Portland’s third-busiest summer on record, when more than 5.7 million travelers passed through its concourses from June through August. With holiday fares shaping up to be some of the highest in years, travel experts say booking early and choosing less popular travel dates could help travelers save money. Hopper recommends booking holiday flights before Halloween to find the lowest prices. The company says travelers are booking Thanksgiving and Christmas flights earlier than usual. Thanksgiving fares tend to climb sharply during the final two weeks before departure, according to travel search site KAYAK. Its analysis also found that flying during Christmas week instead of the week before could save travelers up to 18% on domestic economy tickets and 34% on international economy flights. “Months of elevated jet fuel costs due to the conflict in Iran have contributed to Thanksgiving and Christmas airfares reaching 10-year highs,” Hopper economist Hayley Berg said in the company’s holiday travel report. Jet fuel prices shot up after the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran in February, eased in the spring and surged again over the summer. By Oct. 22, the U.S. benchmark had reached $4.90 a gallon, roughly double prewar levels, according to the Argus U.S. Jet Fuel Index. Fuel is one of airlines’ biggest expenses, and they’re passing much of the increase on to travelers. The International Air Transport Association, an industry trade group, expects fuel to account for about a third of airlines’ operating costs worldwide this year, up from about a quarter last year. The rising costs are squeezing airline profits, prompting carriers to raise fares and reconsider which flights are worth operating. Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in March that the carrier had already raised ticket prices 10% to offset higher fuel expenses. And fares have continued to climb at Alaska, which carries the largest share of passengers at Portland’s airport. During an earnings call Wednesday, Alaska executives said the carrier was collecting 13% more revenue for every mile passengers flew, even as it filled fewer seats. Andrew Harrison, Alaska’s chief commercial officer, said the airline was comfortable leaving some seats empty if it could charge higher fares for the ones it sold. The price increases extend beyond Alaska Airlines. Average fares rose on all 50 of the busiest routes from Portland examined by The Oregonian/OregonLive using federal ticket data. Comparing fares reported in July 2025 and July 2026, the analysis found increases of 55% for trips to Las Vegas, 41% to Ontario, California, 31% to Minneapolis-St. Paul and about 22% to Phoenix and Los Angeles. There are signs, however, that higher ticket prices are starting to turn away some travelers. Andrew Nocella, United Airlines’ chief commercial officer, told investors this week that the share of seats filled by vacation travelers fell slightly in the third quarter, partly because of higher fares. Southwest Airlines, which carries the second-largest share of Portland passengers, reported record revenue in the third quarter. The company’s average fares rose about 27%, according to figures cited during the company’s earnings call Thursday. “We do not see any sign at this point that fares coming up are eroding customer demand,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan told investors. Airlines also are becoming more selective about which flights they operate. Last month, executives at Southwest, United and American airlines said they were cutting flights or scaling back plans to add more as rising fuel costs made some routes less profitable. Southwest cut its plans to add more flights and seats this year roughly in half, while American and United said they would cancel some flights planned for December. Alaska has trimmed some planned flights this year even as it continues expanding service from Portland. An Oregonian/OregonLive analysis of federal transportation data found airlines offered 6.27 million seats on flights leaving PDX from January through July 2026, up 5.3% from a year earlier. The number of flights also increased, but more slowly. Southwest, however, offered 3.5% fewer seats on flights leaving Portland during that period. Travelers had fewer nonstop seats available on several popular routes. Airlines cut seats from Portland to Las Vegas by 19.4%, Los Angeles by 11.3%, Seattle by 9.2%, Phoenix by 6.6% and Denver by 5.8%, according to federal data. Fewer seats can limit flight options and push fares higher. Alaska Airlines has been expanding its Portland operations. Alaska Air Group, which includes Alaska, Hawaiian and Horizon airlines, accounted for nearly half of PDX’s available seats and 54% of flights this summer, according to Molly Prescott, spokesperson for the Port of Portland. Those figures also include most flights SkyWest operates for Alaska. Prescott said PDX expects flights and available seats to increase 11% from mid-September through February, although airlines could still change their schedules. She said the Port expects its busiest holiday travel days to be Sunday, Nov. 29, when more than 63,000 people are expected at PDX, and Sunday, Dec. 27, when more than 61,000 are expected. Those could also be expensive days to fly home. Hopper estimates travelers returning Nov. 29 will pay an average of $604 for domestic round-trip tickets nationwide, compared with about $350 for those returning Monday or Tuesday. Travelers returning Dec. 27 could pay about 20% more than those flying earlier in the week.