08:20 AM EDT, 07/05/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Despite the challenging cost-of-living pressures weighing on consumers, it appears that the summer travel season is off to a

blistering start, said Bank of Montreal (BMO).

United States air passenger volumes passing through airport security hit an all-time high back on June 23 of nearly three million passengers and the 14-day moving average has been solidly above air travel activity back in 2019 through H1, stated the bank.

Meanwhile, activity has been more volatile in Canada, but even there, passenger volumes have been on a solid run since May, noted BMO.

The official kick-off of the summer travel season also led to a record in Canada, with over 220,000 passengers being screened at the largest 17 airports in the country last Friday.

With air travel being one of the more discretionary forms of spending, the strength of passenger volumes to start the summer

bodes well for both the Bank of Canada (BoC) and the U.S. Federal Reserve achieving a soft landing despite restrictive interest rates, according to BMO.