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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’ September 2026 Aviation Fuel Cost down 4.3%, Consumption down 7.8%, and Fuel Cost per Gallon up 3.7% from August 2026

Thursday, November 5, 2026

BTS 26-80

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’ September 2026 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating total fuel expenditure ($5.90B) of U.S. scheduled service airlines was down 4.3% from August 2026 ($6.17B) and up 69.2% from September 2025 ($3.49B). The airlines used 1.527 billion gallons of fuel, 7.8% less fuel than in August 2026 (1.656 billion gallons) and 0.9% more fuel than September 2025 (1.514 billion gallons). The cost per gallon of fuel in September 2026 ($3.86) was up 14 cents (3.7%) from August 2026 ($3.72) and up $1.56 (67.7%) from September 2025 ($2.30).

Note: Alaska Airlines (AS) and Hawaiian Airlines (HA) have merged and now report combined fuel data under Alaska Airlines (AS).

Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service
September 2025$3.49 billion
August 2026$6.17 billion
September 2026$5.90 billion
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-2020 to Sep-2026, 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-2020, and increased to a peak value in Jun-2022 ($4.04), then with a downward trend from Jun-2022 to May-2025 ($2.21).
Fuel cost per gallon for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service
September 2025$2.30
August 2026$3.72
September 2026$3.86
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-2020 to Aug-2026, 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. 2020, then with an upward trend from May-2020 to Sep-2026 (1,527 million of gallons). 3,4,5
Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service
September 20251.51 billion gallons
August 20261.66 billion gallons
September 20261.53 billion gallons

 

Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of November 3, 2026.

Fuel Cost and Consumption data from January 2000 to the present and 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 2026 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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