US summer travel seen best since 9/11 attacks = = = = Thursday May 27, 3:57 PM EDT = By Jui Chakravorty NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - Americans will take more air trips and spend= more on travel this summer, the Travel Industry Association of America s= ays, reversing reluctance to stray far from home after the Sept. 11 attac= ks on the United States. "For the first time in years, the summer travel season will start off wit= h a bang, and we expect it to stay strong through August," said Dr. Suzan= ne Cook, senior vice president of research for the TIA. Air travel volume at U.S. airports is expected to increase by 5 percent t= his summer from a year earlier, the group said. Orbitz (ORBZ), the No. 3 travel Web site, said it expects 2004 summer tra= vel to reach pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels. "The economy has improved this year, people are more positive, less fearf= ul and more willing to travel," Orbitz spokeswoman Kendra Thornton said. = Americans spent an average of $1172 per trip in the summer of 2001. That = number slowly fell to $1066 in 2002 and $1055 in 2003. This summer, TIA e= xpects Americans to loosen their wallets and spend an average of $1101 on= each summer trip. They took 200 million air trips in 2000, 197.4 million air trips 2001, 18= 2.5 million in 2002 and 176.7 million in 2003 This year, Americans are ex= pected to take 184.5 million air trips. And Advance bookings are stronger than 2003, Thornton said. "I think peop= le ... are just willing to take that vacation they've been putting off," = she said. BUSY TRAVELERS, BUSIER AIRPORTS "We expect to see a rise in the average spending per trip and the number = of air trips taken for the first time since Sept. 11. Real recovery in th= e travel and tourism industry is clearly under way," said Cathy Keefe, TI= A spokeswoman. The number of flights at nine major U.S. airports, including Chicago's O'= Hare International, the nation's busiest, are already exceeding pre-Sept.= 11 levels, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Six other busy airports will surpass pre-Sept. 11 levels this summer, the= FAA said. Los Angeles International Airport officials have forecast this summer sea= son to be the busiest since 2001. NEW TRENDS A shift to international travel this year has made London the fourth most= -popular destination at Orbitz this summer. "It is the first time since 2= 001 that an international destination has made our top 10 most-popular li= st," Thornton said. International travel was hammered by the Sept. 11 attacks, outbreaks of S= ARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and the war in Iraq. = =A92004 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS