United says Taylor Swift concerts drove 25% uptick in demand

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United Airlines doesn’t have any bad blood with Taylor Swift, quite the contrary, as the pop star is driving up demand for its flights. At the Skift Global Forum in New York on Wednesday, a United executive said the carrier has seen a 25% uptick in demand for flights on weekends during which Swift has held concerts abroad. Swift is having a similar effect on domestic travel too, Andrew Nocella, the airline’s chief commercial officer, added. Ticket sales on United flights for U.S. concert dates for Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department Tour” have been swift, too, according to United. Flights on days near her concert dates in Indianapolis, Miami and New Orleans are already 70% full. Typically, flights to those cities this far ahead would only be about 50% booked, according to United.

Swift is an economic force of her own, driving up spending and boosting the local economies wherever she performs. Market research firm QuestionPro estimated that all told, her Eras Tour could help add $5 billion to the global economy.While United hasn’t added flights expressly for Swift’s concerts, at least one other airline has.

Budget carrier Southwest this summer said it was adding flights to accommodate strong demand for travel to Swift’s performances in Miami and New Orleans in October. “Following strong demand from last year’s U.S. tour, the airline is adding more than 10 flights to its schedule to help Swifties get to and from her concerts,” the airline said in a statement to CBS News.

Kathryn Krupnik

contributed to this report.

Megan Cerullo

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.