New airline fuel cost and consumption numbers from the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics for February suggest airlines used more fuel than a month earlier.
Officials said the uptick reveals U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.392 billion gallons of fuel, 4.4% less fuel than in January 2024, when they used 1.456 billion gallons, and 7.9% more than in pre-pandemic February 2019.
The cost per gallon of fuel in February 2024 ($2.83) was up 13 cents (4.8%) from January 2024 ($2.70) and up $0.85 (42.9%) from February 2019. Total February 2024 fuel expenditure ($3.94B) was up 0.3% from January 2024 ($3.93B) and up 53.9% from pre-pandemic February 2019.
Year-over-year changes in fuel consumption and cost for February 2024 include:
- A 3.2% increase in domestic fuel consumption
- A 9.5% decrease in domestic fuel cost
- A 12.3% decrease in cost per gallon
Domestic fuel consumption decreased 2.2% from January 2024 to February 2024, increasing 6.8% from February 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects increased airline passenger travel over the same period.