U.S. Airlines’ March 2026 Aviation Fuel Cost up 56.4%, Consumption up 19.5%, and Fuel Cost per Gallon up 30.9% from February 2026

BTS 26-40

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' March 2026 fuel cost and consumption numbers indicating total fuel expenditure ($5.06B) of U.S. scheduled service airlines was up 56.4% from February 2026 ($3.23B) and up 30.4% from March 2025 ($3.88B). The airlines used 1.615 billion gallons of fuel, 19.5% more fuel than in February 2026 (1.352 billion gallons) and 0.4% more fuel than March 2025 (1.609 billion gallons). The cost per gallon of fuel in March 2026 ($3.13) was up 74 cents (30.9%) from February 2026 ($2.39) and up 72 cents (29.9%) from March 2025 ($2.41).

Fuel Cost and Consumption data from January 2000 to the present and Summaries by month are 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 September 2025 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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