The average domestic air fare decreased to $381 in the first quarter of 2014, down 1.0 percent from the average fare of $384 in the first quarter of 2013, adjusted for inflation (Table 1), the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today.  During that January to March period, Cincinnati, Ohio, had the highest average fare, $514, while Sanford, Florida, had the lowest, $119 (Table 6).

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, BTS Air Fares

BTS reports average fares based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares, unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. One-way trips accounted for 34 percent of fares calculated for the first quarter of 2014. Fares are based on the total ticket value, which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees, such as baggage fees, paid at either the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or “zero fares,” or abnormally high reported fares. Constant 2014 dollars are used for inflation adjustment.

Inflation-Adjusted Air Fares
First-quarter fares rose 7.9 percent adjusted for inflation from the recession-affected low of $349 in 2009 to the first quarter of 2011. Since 2011, first quarter fares have shown little change, increasing 1.2 percent from 2011 to 2014 (Table 1).

The first-quarter 2014 fare was down 19.9 percent adjusted for inflation from the average fare of $475 in 1999, the highest inflation-adjusted first quarter average fare in the 19 years since BTS began collecting air fare records in 1995 (Table 2).  The 19.9 percent decline took place while there was an increase in overall consumer prices of 43.2 percent. Since 1995, inflation-adjusted fares declined 17.8 percent compared to a 56.1 percent increase in overall consumer prices (Table 2). See BTS Air Fare web page for historic data.

U.S. passenger airlines collected 70.2 percent of their total revenue from passenger fares during the first quarter of 2014, down from 1990 when 87.6 percent of airline revenue was received from fares (Table 1A).

Quarter-to-Quarter Change
In the three-year period from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2014, inflation-adjusted fares increased 1.2 percent. In the two-year period from the first quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter of 2014, inflation-adjusted fares decreased 0.9 percent (Table 3).

Unadjusted Air Fares
Not adjusting for inflation, the $381 first-quarter 2014 average fare was the highest average fare for any first quarter since 1995. The previous highest unadjusted first-quarter fare was $379 in 2013. Since 1995, unadjusted fares rose 28.2 percent compared to a 56.1 percent increase in overall consumer prices (Table 4).

Unadjusted first-quarter 2014 fares were down 0.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 and down 1.9 percent from the third quarter of 2013, the all-time high for any quarter, unadjusted for inflation (Table 5). See Tables 13-16 for additional unadjusted fare data by airport.

Fares by Airport
Tables 6-8 provide fare data on the top 100 airports based on 2013 originating passengers. All figures are reported in 2014 dollars.

Table 6: Five highest and five lowest average fares in the first quarter: Cincinnati had the highest average fare ($514) while Sanford had the lowest ($119). For the Top 100 Airports, see Table 10 on the BTS website.

Table 7: Five largest increases and five largest decreases adjusted for inflation from the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014: Colorado Springs, Colorado, had the largest increase (13.2 percent) and Bellingham, Washington, had the largest decrease (-23.7 percent). For the Top 100 Airports, see Table 11 on the BTS website.

Table 8: Five largest increases and five largest decreases adjusted for inflation from the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2014: Dallas Love, Texas, had the largest increase (28.9 percent) and White Plains, New York, had the largest decrease
(-52.9 percent). For the Top 100 Airports, see Table 12 on the BTS website.

For additional data, see Top 100 Airports, Rankings  or All Airports. Since average fares are based on the Origin and Destination Survey 10 percent ticket sample, averages for airports with smaller samples may be less reliable. Fares for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico airports are not included in rankings but are available on the web page. Second-quarter 2014 average fare data will be released on Oct 28.

Table 1. 1st Quarter Average Fare 1995-2014, Adjusted for Inflation

Fares are based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.

	Average Fare in constant 2014 dollars ($)	Year-to-Year Percent Change in Average Fare (1Q to 1Q) (%)	Cumulative Percent Change in Average Fare (1Q 1995 to 1Q of each year) (%)
1995	463	-	-
1996	431	-6.9	-6.9
1997	419	-2.9	-9.6
1998	444	6.1	-4.1
1999	475	7.0	2.6
2000	470	-1.2	1.4
2001	466	-0.7	0.7
2002	423	-9.3	-8.7
2003	409	-3.2	-11.6
2004	404	-1.4	-12.8
2005	368	-8.8	-20.4
2006	382	3.8	-17.4
2007	366	-4.4	-21.0
2008	369	0.8	-20.3
2009	349	-5.5	-24.7
2010	356	2.2	-23.1
2011	376	5.6	-18.8
2012	384	2.1	-17.1
2013	384	0.1	-17.0
2014	381	-1.0	-17.8

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Note: Percent change based on unrounded numbers

Table 1A. Passenger Airline Revenue from Fares 1990-2014

Year	Revenue from Passenger Fares as Percent of Total Scheduled Passenger Airline Revenue* (%)
1990	87.6
1995	85.6
2000	84.1
2001	82.7
2002	82.3
2003	79.5
2004	76.6
2005	75.0
2006	74.4
2007	74.3
2008	72.9
2009	70.2
2010	71.3
2011	71.0
2012	70.3
2013	70.7
2014 (1Q)	70.2

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, P-12

* Scheduled passenger airline total revenue is the sum of the following Schedule P12 accounts with account numbers: Reservation cancellation fees (3919.1), Baggage fees (3906.2), Miscellaneous Operating Revenue (3919.2), Transport-Related Revenue (4898) and Passenger Revenue (Fares) (3901).

Table 2. Percent Changes to 2014 in Average Domestic Average Fares and the Inflation Rate* by Year Since 1995

(1st Quarter to 1st Quarter for fares; Mar to Mar for inflation)

Fares are based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.

Since 1st Quarter of ...	Duration in Years	Average Fare in constant 2014 dollars ($)	Percent Change in Average Fare to 1st Quarter 2014 (%)	Inflation Rate Change to Mar 2014
2014		381
2013	1	384	-1.0	1.5
2012	2	384	-0.9	3.0
2011	3	376	1.2	5.7
2010	4	356	6.9	8.6
2009	5	349	9.2	11.1
2008	6	369	3.2	10.7
2007	7	366	4.1	15.1
2006	8	382	-0.4	18.3
2005	9	368	3.3	22.2
2004	10	404	-5.7	26.1
2003	11	409	-7.0	28.3
2002	12	423	-10.0	32.2
2001	13	466	-18.4	34.1
2000	14	470	-18.9	38.0
1999	15	475	-19.9	43.2
1998	16	444	-14.3	45.7
1997	17	419	-9.0	47.7
1996	18	431	-11.7	51.8
1995	19	463	-17.8	56.1

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AIRFARES/

* Rate calculated using Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index

Table 3. Inflation-Adjusted Average Domestic Airline Fares by Quarter

Average Fare and Percent Change by Quarter

Fares are based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.

Quarter/Year	Average Domestic Fare (2014$)
	Average Fare in constant 2014 dollars ($)	Quarter-to-Quarter Percent Change in Average Fare (%)
1Q 2011	376	4.2
2Q 2011	387	2.9
3Q 2011	376	-2.9
4Q 2011	386	2.7
1Q 2012	384	-0.4
2Q 2012	396	3.1
3Q 2012	375	-5.4
4Q 2012	385	2.8
1Q 2013	384	-0.2
2Q 2013*	375	-2.4
3Q 2013*	388	3.4
4Q 2013*	383	-1.3
1Q 2014*	381	-0.6

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AIRFARES/

Note: Percent change based on unrounded numbers

* Fares for the most recent four quarters are in current dollars, not adjusted for inflation.

Table 4. Unadjusted 1st Quarter Average Fares, 1995-2014

Fares are based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.

	Average Fare in current dollars ($)	Year-to-Year Percent Change in Average Fare (1Q to 1Q) (%)	Cumulative Percent Change in Average Fare (1Q 1995 to 1Q of each year) (%)
1995	297
1996	284	-4.4	-4.4
1997	283	-0.2	-4.5
1998	305	7.5	2.6
1999	332	8.9	11.7
2000	340	2.6	14.6
2001	348	2.2	17.1
2002	320	-8.0	7.8
2003	319	-0.3	7.5
2004	320	0.3	7.9
2005	301	-5.9	1.5
2006	323	7.3	8.9
2007	318	-1.7	7.1
2008	333	4.9	12.3
2009	314	-5.8	5.7
2010	328	4.6	10.5
2011	356	8.4	19.8
2012	373	4.8	25.6
2013	379	1.6	27.5
2014	381	0.5	28.2

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AIRFARES/

Note: Percent change based on unrounded numbers

Table 5. Unadjusted Average Domestic Airline Fares by Quarter

Average Fare and Percent Change by Quarter

Fares are based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.

Quarter/Year	Average Domestic Fare (current$)
	Average Fare in current dollars ($)	Quarter-to-Quarter Percent Change in Average Fare (%)
1Q 2011	356	6.3
2Q 2011	370	3.9
3Q 2011	361	-2.4
4Q 2011	368	2.1
1Q 2012	373	1.2
2Q 2012	385	3.2
3Q 2012	367	-4.6
4Q 2012	374	2.0
1Q 2013	379	1.2
2Q 2013	375	-0.9
3Q 2013	388	3.4
4Q 2013	383	-1.3
1Q 2014	381	-0.6

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AIRFARES/

Table 6. Airports with Highest and Lowest U.S. Domestic Average Itinerary Fares 1st Quarter 2014

Top 100 Airports* Based on 2013 U.S. Originating Domestic Passengers

Fares are based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.

Rank	Origin	1st Quarter 2014 ($)
	Highest Average Fares
1	Cincinnati, OH	514
2	Washington Dulles	499
3	Madison, WI	496
4	Houston Bush, TX	494
5	Newark, NJ	482
	Average Fare at All Airports	381
	Lowest Average Fares
1	Sanford, FL	119
2	Mesa, AZ	133
3	Atlantic City, NJ	153
4	Bellingham, WA	218
5	Long Beach, CA	235

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AIRFARES/ 

* Not including Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico

Table 7. One-Year Change by Airport: Top 5 Airport Percentage Increases and Decreases in U.S. Domestic Average Itinerary Fare, 1Q 2013 to 1Q 2014

Top 100 Airports* Based on 2013 U.S. Originating Domestic Passengers, Fares Adjusted for Inflation

Fares are based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.

Rank	Origin	1st Quarter 2013 (2014$)	1st Quarter 2014 (2014$)	Percent Change (%)
	Largest Increases
1	Colorado Springs, CO	392	443	13.2
2	Orlando, FL	294	318	8.2
3	Birmingham, AL	415	443	6.8
4	Atlanta, GA	384	405	5.2
5	Long Beach, CA	223	235	5.2
	Average Fare at All Airports	384	381	-1.0
	Largest Decreases
1	Bellingham, WA	286	218	-23.7
2	Mesa, AZ	154	133	-14.1
3	Islip, NY	324	289	-10.9
4	Atlantic City, NJ	171	153	-10.7
5	Wichita, KS	447	407	-9.0

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AIRFARES/ 

* Not including Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico

Note: Percent change based on unrounded numbers

Table 8. 14-Year Change by Airport: Top 5 Percentage Increases and Decreases in U.S. Domestic Average Itinerary Fare, 2000-2014

Top 100 Airports* Based on 2013 U.S. Originating Domestic Passengers, Fares Adjusted for Inflation

Fares are based on domestic itinerary fares. Itinerary fares consist of round-trip fares unless the customer does not purchase a return trip. In that case, the one-way fare is included. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.

Rank	Origin	1st Quarter 2000 (2014$)	1st Quarter 2014 (2014$)	Percent Change (%)
	Largest Increases
1	Dallas Love, TX	227	292	28.9
2	Reno, NV	288	357	24.0
3	Houston Hobby, TX	293	349	19.2
4	Spokane, WA	330	371	12.4
5	Burbank, CA	246	275	12.1
	Average Fare at All Airports	470	381	-18.9
	Largest Decreases
1	White Plains, NY	839	395	-52.9
2	Long Beach, CA	475	235	-50.5
3	Bellingham, WA	434	218	-49.7
4	Atlantic City, NJ	293	153	-47.8
5	Denver, CO	612	334	-45.4

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AIRFARES/

* Not including Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico

Note: Percent change based on unrounded numbers

Top 100 airports based on 2013 originating domestic passengers:

Alabama: Birmingham

Arizona: Mesa, Phoenix, Tucson

Arkansas: Little Rock

California: Burbank, Fresno, Long Beach, Los Angeles Intl, Oakland,
Ontario/San Bernardino, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana (Orange County)

Colorado: Colorado Springs, Denver

Connecticut: Hartford

District of Columbia: Dulles, Reagan National

Florida: Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Pensacola,
Sanford, Tampa, West Palm Beach

Georgia: Atlanta, Savannah

Idaho: Boise

Illinois: Chicago Midway, Chicago O'Hare

Indiana: Indianapolis

Iowa: Des Moines

Kansas: Wichita

Kentucky: Louisville

Louisiana: New Orleans

Maine: Portland

Maryland: Baltimore

Massachusetts: Boston

Michigan: Detroit, Grand Rapids

Minnesota: Minneapolis/St. Paul

Mississippi: Jackson/Vicksburg

Missouri: Kansas City, St. Louis

Nebraska: Omaha

Nevada: Las Vegas, Reno

New Hampshire: Manchester

New Jersey: Atlantic City, Newark

New Mexico: Albuquerque

New York: Albany, Buffalo, Islip, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Rochester, Syracuse, White Plains

North Carolina: Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh/Durham

Ohio: Akron/Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton

Oklahoma: Oklahoma City, Tulsa

Oregon: Portland

Pennsylvania: Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

Rhode Island: Providence

South Carolina: Charleston, Greenville-Spartanburg

Tennessee: Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville

Texas: Austin, Dallas Love, Dallas/Ft. Worth, El Paso, Houston Bush,
Houston Hobby, San Antonio

Utah: Salt Lake City

Vermont: Burlington

Virginia: Norfolk, Richmond

Washington: Bellingham, Seattle, Spokane

Wisconsin: Madison, Milwaukee