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