US airlines’ June 2022 fuel consumption down 11.1% from pre-pandemic 2019; aviation fuel cost per gallon hits all time high

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ June Fuel Cost and Consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.44 billion gallons of fuel, 2.13% more fuel than in May 2022 (1.41B gallons) and 11.1% less than in pre-pandemic June 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in June 2022 ($4.04) was up 14 cents (3.6%) from May 2022 ($3.90) and up $2.03 (101.0%) from June 2019. Total June 2022 fuel expenditure ($5.83B) was up 5.8% from May 2022 ($5.51B) and up 79.9% from pre-pandemic June 2019.

At $4.04, the cost per gallon of fuel in June was the highest since May 2022 ($3.90). The 7.9% year-over-year increase in fuel consumption on domestic flights reflects an increase in domestic air travel from last June. This, combined with a year-over-year domestic fuel cost per gallon increase of 100.0% resulted in the domestic year-over-year total fuel cost increase of 113.1%. Domestic fuel consumption increased 0.66% from May to June in 2022, but decreased 8.6% from June 2019.

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

June 2019: 1.62 billion gallons

June 2021: 1.23 billion gallons

May 2022: 1.41 billion gallons

June 2022: 1.44 billion gallons

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

June 2019: $2.01

June 2021: $2.02

May 2022: $3.90

June 2022: $4.04

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

June 2019: $3.24 billion

June 2021: $2.48 billion

May 2022: $5.51 billion

June 2022: $5.83 billion