U.S. Airlines’ May 2024 Fuel Cost per Gallon down 3.8% from April 2024; Aviation Fuel Consumption up 4.0% from Pre-Pandemic May 2019
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.
The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ May 2024 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.646 billion gallons of fuel, 5.1% more fuel than in April 2024 (1.567 billion gallons) and 4.0% more than in pre-pandemic May 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in May 2024 ($2.65) was down 10 cents (3.8%) from April 2024 ($2.75) and up $0.53 (25.2%) from May 2019. Total May 2024 fuel expenditure ($4.36B) was up 1.1% from April 2024 ($4.31B) and up 30.2% from pre-pandemic May 2019.
Year-over-year changes in fuel consumption and cost for May 2024 includes a 4.7% increase in domestic fuel consumption, a 13.1% increase in domestic fuel cost, and an 8.0% increase in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption increased 4.4% from April 2024 to May 2024, while increasing 4.2% from May 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.
Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| May 2019 | 1.58 billion gallons |
| May 2023 | 1.57 billion gallons |
| April 2024 | 1.57 billion gallons |
| May 2024 | 1.65 billion gallons |
Fuel cost per gallon for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| May 2019 | $2.11 |
| May 2023: | $2.44 |
| April 2024 | $2.75 |
| May 2024 | $2.65 |
Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| May 2019 | $3.35 billion |
| May 2023 | $3.82 billion |
| April 2024 | $4.31 billion |
| May 2024 | $4.36 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 March 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. Regarding this release, the following carrier remain pending: Swift Air, LLC (09Q). Also, within text, percent change results may not be exact due to rounding.
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