Domestic airfares drop to lowest level since 2010

The L.A. Times reports:

Lower fuel costs and increased competition from low-cost airlines have pushed the price of domestic airline tickets to the lowest level since 2010, according to federal data.

The average domestic airline ticket sold in the first three months of the year was $361, down 7.8% from the first quarter of 2015, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The price is the lowest first-quarter average domestic price since 2010, when it was $359, adjusted for inflation.

“Customers are benefiting from lower fuel prices and increased competition every day, as flying is affordable and accessible to the many, not just the elite few, as evidenced by the record number of people flying over the summer travel period,” said Vaughn Jennings, a spokesman for Airlines for America, a trade group for the nation’s air carriers.

Lower fuel prices have helped keep airfares down since the end of 2014 while demand for travel has remained steady. The price of a gallon of jet fuel in North America is $1.25, 22% cheaper than a year earlier, according to the International Air Transport Assn., a trade group for the world’s airlines.

Good news.