U.S. air travel volume this spring will reach its highest level in seven years,

according to a forecast issued this week by Airlines for America. The airline advocacy group projects 134.8 million passengers will travel on U.S. airlines in March and April, 2 percent more than during the same period last year. The figure also falls only slightly below 2007’s pre- economic downturn level. A4A vice president and chief economist John Heimlich said load factor percentages during the next two months would be in the low 80s. Airline schedules indicate a capacity increase of 64,000 seats per day, which exceeds the projected traffic increase of 40,000 per day, he said.