U.S. Airlines’ September 2022 Fuel Cost per Gallon Up 0.6% from August 2022; Aviation Fuel Consumption Down 5.4% from Pre-Pandemic September 2019

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Nov. 2 released U.S. airlines’ September fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.4 billion gallons of fuel, 6.7% less fuel than in August 2022 (1.50 billion gallons) and 5.4% less than in pre-pandemic September 2019.

The cost per gallon of fuel in September 2022 ($3.49) was up 2 cents (0.6%) from August 2022 ($3.47) and up $1.53 (78.1%) from September 2019. Total September 2022 fuel expenditure ($4.89B) was down 6.3% from August 2022 ($5.22B) and up 69.2% from pre-pandemic September 2019.

Year-over-year increases in fuel consumption and cost for September include 7.0% in domestic fuel consumption, 86.3% in domestic fuel cost, and 74.2% in cost per gallon.  Domestic fuel consumption decreased 6.1% from August to September in 2022, while also decreasing 1.7% from September 2019.

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

September 2019:       1.48 billion gallons

September 2021:       1.22 billion gallons

August 2022:             1.50 billion gallons

September 2022:       1.40 billion gallons

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

September 2019:       $1.96

September 2021:       $1.99

August 2022:             $3.47

September 2022:       $3.49

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

September 2019:       $2.89 billion

September 2021:       $2.43 billion

August 2022:             $5.22 billion

September 2022:       $4.89 billion