BTS Releases 4th-Quarter 2009 Air Fare Data;
Average 4th-Quarter Domestic Air Fares Fell 7.4% from 4th Quarter 2008
Top 100 Airports: Highest Fare in Huntsville, Lowest Fare at Atlantic City
Average domestic air fares in the fourth quarter of 2009 fell to their lowest October-to-December level since 2006, dropping 7.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008 in the largest year-to-year decline since 2001, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today.
BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reports average fares based on domestic itinerary fares, round-trip or one-way for which no return is purchased. Fares are based on the total ticket value which consists of the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity at the time of purchase. Fares include only the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and do not include other fees, such as baggage fees, paid at the airport or onboard the aircraft. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or "zero fares" or a few abnormally high reported fares.
The $319 fourth-quarter 2009 average fares were down 10.8 percent from the all-time high, not inflation-adjusted, of $358 in the third quarter of 2008 and down 24.4 percent from the inflation-adjusted high for any fourth-quarter since 1995 set in 2000. The fourth quarter 2009 average fares were up 7.4 percent from the post-9/11 fourth-quarter low of $297 in 2004.
While air fares in the fourth quarter of 2009 declined 6.1 percent since the fourth quarter of 2000, overall prices measured by the inflation rate rose 24.1 percent during that period. In the 14 years from 1995, the first year of BTS records, air fares rose 10.9 percent compared to a 40.7 percent inflation rate. In 1995 dollars, the average air fare in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $227, compared to $288 in 1995 and $300 in 2000.
See BTS May Air Fare Release for summary tables and additional data. BTS air fare records reach back to 1995. See BTS Air Fare web page for historic data