U.S. Airlines’ March 2024 Fuel Cost per Gallon down 2.2% from February 2024; Aviation Fuel Consumption Up 4.9% from Pre-Pandemic March 2019

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ March 2024 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.602 billion gallons of fuel, 15.1% more fuel than in February 2024 (1.392 billion gallons) and 4.9% more than in pre-pandemic March 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in March 2024 ($2.77) was down 6 cents (2.2%) from February 2024 ($2.83) and up $0.74 (36.7%) from March 2019. Total March 2024 fuel expenditure ($4.43B) was up 12.5% from February 2024 ($3.94B) and up 43.5% from pre-pandemic March 2019.

Year-over-year changes in fuel consumption and cost for March 2024 include a 0.6% increase in domestic fuel consumption, a 4.6% decrease in domestic fuel cost, and a 5.3% decrease in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption increased 14.7% from February 2024 to March 2024, while increasing 3.9% from March 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.

Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:

Fuel cost per gallon for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:

Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:

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.