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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

U.S. Airlines’ January 2026 Aviation Fuel Consumption down 10.8%, and Fuel Cost per Gallon up 1.8% from December 2025

Thursday, March 5, 2026

BTS 26-23

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. 
All fuel consumption data is in regard to fuel paid for by the carrier.

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ January 2026 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.441 billion gallons of fuel, 10.8% less fuel than in December 2025 (1.614 billion gallons) and 1.0% less fuel than January 2025 (1.456 billion gallons). The cost per gallon of fuel in January 2026 ($2.36) was up 4 cents (1.8%) from December 2025 ($2.32) and down 6 cents (2.7%) from January 2025 ($2.42). Total January 2026 fuel expenditure ($3.40B) was down 9.2% from December 2025 ($3.74B) and down 3.7% from January 2025 ($3.53B).
 

This 2-D line chart1 illustrates U.S airlines fuel consumption for scheduled service by time. The x-axis represents time on a scale from Jan-20 to Jan-26, and the y-axis represents fuel consumption in millions of gallons.2 During this time, the fuel consumption dips to the lowest value (447 million of gallons) in Apr. 20, then with an upward trend from Apr. 20 to Jan. 26 (1441 million of gallons). 3,4,5

 

 

Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
January 2025 1.46 billion gallons
December 2025 1.61 billion gallons
January 2026 1.44 billion gallons

 

 

This 2-D line chart1 illustrates U.S airlines fuel cost per gallon for scheduled service by time. The x-axis represents time on a scale from Jan-20 to Jan-26, and the y-axis represents fuel cost per gallon in dollars.2 During this time, the fuel cost per gallon dips to the lowest value ($1.03) in May 20, and increased to the highest value in June 22 ($4.04), then with a downward trend from June 22 to Jan. 26 ($2.36). 3,4,5
Fuel cost per gallon for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
January 2025 $2.42
December 2025 $2.32
January 2026 $2.36
Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
January 2025 3.53 billion gallons
December 2025 3.74 billion gallons
January 2026 3.40 billion gallons

Fuel Cost and Consumption data from January 2000 to the present can be found at https://transtats-test.oai.bts.dot.gov/APEISDWRES/FUEL/. 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 2025 are available on the BTS website. 

Please Note:

The information provided within BTS statistical releases may not be based on 100% of the carriers required to report. Generally, data is 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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