U.S. Airlines’ January 2024 Fuel Cost per Gallon Down 3.4% from December 2023; Aviation Fuel Consumption Up 2.3% from Pre-Pandemic January 2019
The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ January 2024 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.456 billion gallons of fuel, 8.1% less fuel than in December 2023 (1.584 billion gallons) and 2.3% more than in pre-pandemic January 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in January 2024 ($2.70) was down 10 cents (3.4%) from December 2023 ($2.80) and up $0.79 (41.5%) from January 2019. Total January 2024 fuel expenditure ($3.93B) was down 11.2% from December 2023 ($4.43B) and up 44.7% from pre-pandemic January 2019.
Year-over-year changes in fuel consumption and cost for January 2024 include 1.8% decrease in domestic fuel consumption, 19.5% decrease in domestic fuel cost, and 18.1% decrease in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption decreased 9.7% from December 2023 to January 2024, while increasing 0.8% from January 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.
Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| January 2019: | 1.42 billion gallons |
| January 2023: | 1.41 billion gallons |
| December 2023: | 1.58 billion gallons |
| January 2024: | 1.46 billion gallons |
Fuel cost per gallon for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| January 2019: | $1.91 |
| January 2023: | $3.26 |
| December 2023: | $2.80 |
| January 2024: | $2.70 |
Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| January 2019: | $2.72 billion |
| January 2023: | $4.61 billion |
| December 2023: | $4.43 billion |
| January 2024: | $3.93 billion |
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 2023 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. Regarding this release, the following carriers remain pending: Aloha Air Cargo (KH), and Northern Air Cargo (NC). Also, within text, percent change results may not be exact due to rounding.
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