The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ May 2023 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating U.S. scheduled service airlines used 1.566 billion gallons of fuel, 5.5% more fuel than in April 2023 (1.484 billion gallons) and 1.1% less than in pre-pandemic May 2019. The cost per gallon of fuel in May 2023 ($2.44) was down 22 cents (8.1%) from April 2023 ($2.66) and up $0.33 (15.6%) from May 2019. Total May 2023 fuel expenditure ($3.82B) was down 3.1% from April 2023 ($3.94B) and up 14.3% from pre-pandemic May 2019.
Year-over-year changes in fuel consumption and cost for May 2023 include 8.3% increase in domestic fuel consumption, 32.1% decrease in domestic fuel cost, and 37.3% decrease in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption increased 4.5% from April 2023 to May 2023, while decreasing 0.5% from May 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.
Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
May 2019: 1.58 billion gallons
May 2022: 1.41 billion gallons
April 2023: 1.48 billion gallons
May 2023: 1.57 billion gallons
Fuel cost per gallon for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
May 2019: $2.11
May 2022: $3.90
April 2023: $2.66
May 2023: $2.44
Total fuel cost for U.S. airlines (total) scheduled service:
May 2019: $3.35 billion
May 2022: $5.51 billion
April 2023: $3.94 billion
May 2023: $3.82 billion
Airline fuel costs may be affected by hedging, contracts that allow airlines to limit exposure to future price changes. None of the cost numbers are adjusted for inflation.