U.S. Airlines Experience Uptick in Fuel Cost Per Gallon Prices

U.S. Airlines’ November 2024 fuel cost per gallon is up 0.9% from October 2024, indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.492 billion gallons of fuel, 5.4% less fuel than in October 2024 (1.577 billion gallons) and 3.3% more than in pre-pandemic November 2019, according to the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).

Key takeaways:

• The cost per gallon of fuel in November 2024 ($2.31) was up 2 cents (0.9%) from October 2024 ($2.29) and up $0.32 (16.1%) from November 2019. Total November 2024 fuel expenditure ($3.44B) was down 4.5% from October 2024 ($3.61B) and up 20.0% from pre-pandemic November 2019.  
• Airline fuel costs may be affected by hedging, contracts that allow airlines to limit exposure to future price changes.