U.S. airlines’ July 2022 fuel consumption down 9.5% from pre-pandemic 2019; aviation fuel cost per gallon drops 8.2% in July from June 2022 all time high

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ July fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.52 billion gallons of fuel, 5.6% more fuel than in June 2022 (1.44B gallons) and 9.5% less than in pre-pandemic July 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in July 2022 ($3.71) was down 33 cents (8.2%) from June 2022 ($4.04) and up $1.73 (87.4%) from July 2019. Total July 2022 fuel expenditure ($5.64B) was down 3.3% from June 2022 ($5.83B) and up 69.9% from pre-pandemic July 2019.

At $4.04, the cost per gallon of fuel in June was the highest since May 2022 $3.90. Year-over-year increases in fuel consumption and cost for July include 2.9% in domestic fuel consumption, 90.0% in domestic fuel cost, and 84.9% in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption increased 5.6% from June to July in 2022, but deceased 7.0% from July 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.

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

July 2019: 1.68 billion gallons

July 2021: 1.35 billion gallons

June 2022: 1.44 billion gallons

July 2022: 1.52 billion gallons

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

July 2019: $1.98

July 2021: $1.99

June 2022: $4.04

July 2022: $3.71

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

July 2019: $3.32 billion

July 2021: $2.68 billion

June 2022: $5.83 billion

July 2022: $5.64 billion