AIR FARES AND PASSENGER VOLUME FOR THE TOP FIVE MAJOR SHORT ROUTES
AIR FARES AND PASSENGER VOLUME FOR THE TOP FIVE MAJOR SHORT ROUTES
Average and Low Air Fares: Most Heavily Travelled Routes of 750 Miles and Less (quarterly data, not seasonally adjusted)
NOTE: Blue portion of bar = lowest average fare for an airline
meeting the criteria in the text.
Red portion of bar = the difference between the average fare for all airlines,
and the lowest average fare airline.
Blue + red portions of bar = the average fare for the market.
Passenger air fares are a measure of the price of air travel between cities. Major short routes consist of the top five routes of 750 miles and less by number of passengers for the most recent quarter. Large markets consist of the top 1,000 passenger markets at all distances, plus routes that have previously achieved this distinction. Low fares are the lowest average fare for an airline serving at least 10 percent of passengers in the market, or the airline with the lowest average fare, if there is only one airline with at least a 10 percent share.
In the second quarter of 2001, there were 542 large-market routes of 750 miles or less.
| Consumer air fares (less than 750 miles) | Q2 00 | Q2 01 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago-New York (729 miles) | |||
| Average Fare ($) | 260 | 244 | -6.15 |
| Low Fare ($) | 174 | 156 | -10.34 |
| Daily Passengers | 7,766 | 7,540 | -2.91 |
| Boston-New York (185 miles) | |||
| Average Fare ($) | 148 | 143 | -3.38 |
| Low Fare ($) | 130 | 125 | -3.85 |
| Daily Passengers | 7,390 | 6,374 | -13.75 |
| Dallas-Houston (236 miles) | |||
| Average Fare ($) | 86 | 82 | -4.65 |
| Low Fare ($) | 82 | 78 | -4.88 |
| Daily Passengers | 5,882 | 5,767 | -1.96 |
| New York-Wash DC (214 miles) | |||
| Average Fare ($) | 133 | 136 | 2.26 |
| Low Fare ($) | 124 | 121 | -2.42 |
| Daily Passengers | 6,761 | 5,664 | -16.23 |
| Las Vegas-L.A. (236 miles) | |||
| Average Fare ($) | 72 | 68 | -5.56 |
| Low Fare ($) | 59 | 59 | 0.00 |
| Daily Passengers | 5,142 | 5,180 | 0.74 |
NOTES: The current value is compared to the value from the same period in the previous year to account for seasonality.
Average fares are based on the one-way cost for all paying customers and exclude passengers that fly for free such as those using a frequent flyer program. City-pairs include all airports in each city.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, and http://ostpxweb.ost.dot.gov/aviation/.