US January Aviation Fuel Use Recovering

Click for more information.

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released US  airlines’ January 2023 fuel cost and consumption numbers. US scheduled service airlines used 1.413 billion gallons of fuel, 4.0% less than in December 2022 (1.471), but only -0.7% less than in pre-pandemic January 2019 as the economy remains resilient.

The cost per gallon of fuel in January 2023 ($3.28) was up 14 cents (4.3%) from December 2022 ($3.14) and up $1.37 (71.7%) from January 2019. Total January 2023 fuel expenditure ($4.63B) was up 0.2% from December 2022 ($4.63B) and up 70.6% from pre-pandemic January 2019.

Year-over-year increases in fuel consumption and cost for January 2023 include 14.5% in domestic fuel consumption, 61.4% in domestic fuel cost, and 40.9% in cost per gallon. Domestic fuel consumption decreased 3.4% from December 2022 to January 2023, while increasing 2.5% from January 2019. Increased fuel consumption reflects an increase in airline passenger travel over the same period.