U.S. Airlines’ August 2026 Aviation Fuel Cost up 4.8%, Consumption down 4.4%, and Fuel Cost per Gallon up 9.5% from July 2026

BTS 26-74

This release is published on a fixed schedule as required by the Office of Management and Budget, and statistics in this release may be revised when inputs to the statistics are corrected or updated. Data on the program page of this website are the most up-to-date and complete. All costs are in current dollars. All fuel consumption data is in regard to fuel paid for by the carrier.

The Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines' August 2026 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating total fuel expenditure ($6.17B) of U.S. scheduled service airlines was up 4.8% from July 2026 ($5.89B) and up 60.2% from August 2025 ($3.85B). The airlines used 1.656 billion gallons of fuel, 4.4% less fuel than in July 2026 (1.732 billion gallons) and 1.2% less fuel than August 2025 (1.677 billion gallons). The cost per gallon of fuel in August 2026 ($3.72) was up 32 cents (9.5%) from July 2026 ($3.40) and up $1.43 (62.2%) from August 2025 ($2.30).

Note: Alaska Airlines (AS) and Hawaiian Airlines (HA) have merged and now report combined fuel data under Alaska Airlines (AS).

Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of September 30, 2026.

Fuel Cost and Consumption data from January 2000 to the present and Summaries by month are also available.

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. The month-to-month numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

Individual airline numbers through June 2026 are available on the BTS website.

Please Note:
The information provided within BTS statistical releases may not be based on 100% of the carriers required to report. Generally, data is released per schedule if reports have been received from at least 90% of the carriers, along with data from all the major carriers. Also, within text, percent change results may not be exact due to rounding.

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