Cost Of Air Travel In U.S. Drops To Lowest Since 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- There's good news just in time for summer travel. Domestic airfares in the U.S. have dropped to their lowest since 2010.
The average airline ticket costs $363 in the fourth quarter of 2015, down from $396 the same time a year before.
Adjusted for inflation, the cost of the average domestic airfare in 2010 was $365.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics released airfare data for the fourth quarter of 2015 on Tuesday.
The drop in fuel prices and competition from low-cost no-frills airlines has helped spur the decline in airfares. The cost of gallon of jet fuel in North America dropped 36% since last year to $1.16, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"This confirms what we have been saying: Air travel remains one of the best consumer bargains out there, as evidenced by the record number of people flying — 798.4 million people flew U.S. airlines in 2015," says Vaughn Jennings, a spokesman for Airlines for America, a trade group for the nation's airlines.
