Source: US DOT
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.