U.S. Airlines’ October 2024 Fuel Cost per Gallon down 1.7% from September 2024; Aviation Fuel Consumption up 2.3% from Pre-Pandemic October 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. All costs are in current dollars.
The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ October 2024 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.577 billion gallons of fuel, 2.9% more fuel than in September 2024 (1.532 billion gallons) and 2.3% more than in pre-pandemic October 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in October 2024 ($2.29) was down 4 cents (1.7%) from September 2024 ($2.33) and up $0.32 (16.1%) from October 2019. Total October 2024 fuel expenditure ($3.61B) was up 1.2% from September 2024 ($3.56B) and up 18.8% from pre-pandemic October 2019.
Year-over-year changes in fuel consumption and cost for October 2024 includes a 2.1% decrease in domestic fuel consumption, an 28.6% decrease in domestic fuel cost, and a 27.1% decrease in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption increased 4.1% from September 2024 to October 2024, while increasing 1.7% from October 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.
Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| October 2019 | 1.54 billion gallons |
| October 2023 | 1.59 billion gallons |
| September 2024 | 1.53 billion gallons |
| October 2024 | 1.58 billion gallons |
Fuel cost per gallon for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| October 2019 | $1.97 |
| October 2023 | $3.12 |
| September 2024 | $2.33 |
| October 2024 | $2.29 |
Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
| October 2019 | $3.04 billion |
| October 2023 | $4.96 billion |
| September 2024 | $3.56 billion |
| October 2024 | $3.61 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 June 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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