This release is published on a fixed schedule as required by the Office of Management and Budget, and statistics in this release may be revised when inputs to the statistics are corrected or updated. Data on the program page of this website are the most up-to-date and complete. All costs are in current dollars.

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ December 2024 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.594 billion gallons of fuel, 6.8% more fuel than in November 2024 (1.492 billion gallons) and 2.7% more than in pre-pandemic December 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in December 2024 ($2.32) was up 2 cents (0.7%) from November 2024 ($2.31) and up $0.32 (16.0%) from December 2019. Total December 2024 fuel expenditure ($3.71B) was up 7.6% from November 2024 ($3.44B) and up 19.1% from pre-pandemic December 2019.    

Year-over-year changes in fuel consumption and cost for December 2024 includes a 0.5% increase in domestic fuel consumption, a 16.5% decrease in domestic fuel cost, and a 16.9% decrease in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption increased 5.8% from November 2024 to December 2024, while increasing 0.5% from December 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.

Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:

Fuel cost per gallon for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:

Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:

Fuel Cost and Consumption data from January 2000 to the present can be found at https://www.transtats.bts.gov/fuel.asp. Summaries by month are also available.

Airline fuel costs may be affected by hedging, contracts that allow airlines to limit exposure to future price changes. None of the cost numbers are adjusted for inflation. The month-to-month numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

Individual airline numbers through September 2024 are available on the BTS website. 

Please Note:

The information provided within BTS statistical releases may not be based on 100% of reporting carriers. Generally, data are released per schedule if reports have been received from at least 90% of the carriers, along with data from all the major carriers. Also, within text, percent change results may not be exact due to rounding.

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