U.S. airlines’ November 2022 fuel cost per gallon down 3.8% from October 2022; aviation fuel consumption down 3.2% from pre-pandemic November 2019

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ November fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.398 billion gallons of fuel, 2.5% less fuel than in October 2022 (1.434 billion gallons) and 3.2% less than in pre-pandemic November 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in November 2022 ($3.32) was down 13 cents (3.8%) from October 2022 ($3.45) and up $1.33 (66.8%) from November 2019. Total November 2022 fuel expenditure ($4.64B) was down 6.2% from October 2022 ($4.95B) and up 61.5% from pre-pandemic November 2019. All costs are in current dollars and are not adjusted for inflation.

Year-over-year increases in fuel consumption and cost for November include 5.5% in domestic fuel consumption, 52.5% in domestic fuel cost, and 44.5% in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption decreased 1.4% from October to November in 2022, while also decreasing 2.1% from November 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.

Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service: November 2019 1.44 billion gallons November 2021: 1.25 billion gallons October 2022: 1.43 billion gallons November 2022: 1.40 billion gallons