U.S. Airlines’ January 2023 fuel cost per gallon up 4.3% from December 2022

Aviation Fuel Consumption Down 0.7% from Pre-Pandemic January 2019

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ January 2023 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.413 billion gallons of fuel, 4.0% less fuel than in December 2022 (1.471 billion gallons) and 0.7% less than in pre-pandemic January 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in January 2023 ($3.28) was up 14 cents (4.3%) from December 2022 ($3.14) and up $1.37 (71.7%) from January 2019. Total January 2023 fuel expenditure ($4.63B) was up 0.2% from December 2022 ($4.63B) and up 70.6% from pre-pandemic January 2019.

Year-over-year increases in fuel consumption and cost for January 2023 include 14.5% in domestic fuel consumption, 61.4% in domestic fuel cost, and 40.9% in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption decreased 3.4% from December 2022 to January 2023, while increasing 2.5% from January 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.

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

• January 2019: 1.42 billion gallons
• January 2022: 1.21 billion gallons
• December 2022: 1.47 billion gallons
• January 2023: 1.41 billion gallons

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

• January 2019: $1.91
• January 2022: $2.36
• December 2022: $3.14
• January 2023: $3.28

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

• January 2019: $2.72 billion
• January 2022: $2.85 billion
• December 2022: $4.63 billion
• January 2023: $4.63 billion

Fuel Cost and Consumption data from January 2000 to the present can be found at https://transtats.bts.gov/fuel.... 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.