The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ December Fuel Cost and Consumption numbers indicating U.S. airlines used 1.35 billion gallons of fuel, 7.5% more fuel than in November 2021 and 13.2% less than in pre-pandemic December 2019. At $2.14, the cost per gallon of fuel in November 2021 was down 17 cents (7.4%) from November’s $2.31 and up 14 cents (7.0%) from December 2019’s $2.00 per gallon. To date, the pandemic-low fuel cost per gallon was May 2020’s $1.03. Total December 2021 fuel cost ($2.88B) was up 0.68% from November 2021 ($2.90B) and down 7.54% from pre-pandemic December 2019 ($3.11B).
For the year, U.S. airlines used 13.78 billion gallons of fuel, a 24.6% decrease from pre-pandemic 2019’s 18.27 billion gallons. Average fuel cost per gallon in 2021 was $1.98, a 2.0% decrease from 2019’s $2.00. In 2021, the airlines spent $27.2 billion on fuel, a decrease of 25.3% from 2019’s $36.5 billion.
Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines scheduled service:
December 2019: 1.55 billion gallons
December 2020: 918 million gallons
November 2021: 1.25 billion gallons
December 2021: 1.35 billion gallons
2019 total: 18.27 billion gallons
2020 total: 10.28 billion gallons
2021 total: 13.78 billion gallons
Fuel cost per gallon by U.S. airlines scheduled service:
December 2019: $2.00
December 2020: $1.45
November 2021: $2.31
December 2021: $2.14
2019 average: $2.00
2020 average: $1.43
2021 average: $1.98
Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines scheduled service:
December 2019: $3.11 billion
December 2020: $1.33 billion
November 2021: $2.90 billion
December 2021: $2.88 billion
2019 total: $36.5 billion
2020 total: $14.7 billion
2021 total: $27.2 billion
