BTS Indicators Report Shows Drop In Airline Fuel Costs

Contact BTS 17-02 David Smallen 202-366-5568

Monday, July 15, 2002 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released its monthly Transportation Indicators report showing that fuel costs in April for scheduled flights of large domestic air carriers fell to 69 cents a gallon, down 8 cents from April 2001.

The 69-cents-per-gallon fuel cost in April was exactly the average of 69 cents for the 12-month period ending in April. During that time, the cost reached a high of 80 cents per gallon in June 2001 and a low of 47 cents per gallon in December.

From January 1990 to the present, the period tracked by Transportation Indicators, the highest cost was $1.11 per gallon in Oct. 1990, and the lowest cost was 43 cents per gallon in March 1999.

The BTS Transportation Indicators report is a monthly update of critical transportation information that details the impact of transportation on the nation’s economy and society.

Transportation Indicators provides information on more than 300 trends in the areas of safety, mobility, economic growth, the human and natural environment, and national security. The monthly report, which is available at www.bts.gov, provides information to address specific transportation issues and to assist in the effort led by BTS to make transportation information more accurate, reliable and timely. Updated reports will be available on the BTS website at the end of every month.

Other trends highlighted in this month’s report are:

• A drop of 9 percent in revenue enplanements and 7 percent in revenue passenger miles on large domestic air carriers in March from March 2001. The gap between the current month and the same month of the previous year has shrunk since September 2001, indicating an on-going recovery in domestic commercial air travel.
• Available ton-miles of freight on international routes by large domestic aircarriers declined 13 percent in March compared to March 2001, the third largest decline in the last 10 years and the second largest since August 2001. Freight revenue ton-miles on the same routes by those carriers declined 15 percent in March, compared to March 2001, the fifth largest decline in the last 10 years and the fourth largest decline since August 2001.
• Revenue departures for international flights by large domestic carriers declined 11 percent in March compared to a year earlier, the fourth largest drop in the 10 years tracked by this report.
• Tonnage of U.S. waterborne exports and imports decreased 5 percent in February compared to February 2001.
• Personal spending on motor vehicles and parts declined 10 percent, on a seasonally adjusted basis, in the first quarter of this year from the fourth quarter of 2001, but is still above the first two quarters of 2001.
• Producer prices for petroleum products were 20 percent lower in May than in May 2001.
• Producer prices for highway and street construction were 5 percent lower in May than May 2001, the largest decline in the 10 years of data tracked by this report.
• Retail sales of cars were down 7 percent, light trucks were down 5 percent, and medium/heavy trucks down 9 percent in May compared to May 2001. May was the first month since August 2001 that cars outsold light trucks.
• Business investment in transportation equipment declined 7 percent in current dollars in the first quarter of 2002 compared to the first quarter of 2001.
• U.S. exports and imports with Canada, Mexico, Japan, and China declined in March compared to March 2001.
• Imports of civilian aircraft and parts declined 10 percent in the first quarter of 2002, while exports of civilian aircraft and parts increased 4 percent, both compared with the fourth quarter of 2001. As a result, the surplus of U.S. trade in aircraft and parts increased.
• Value per metric ton of U.S. waterborne exports declined nearly 10 percent in February compared to a year earlier.
• Over six million fewer people—37 million versus 43 million—sought entry into the United States in April compared to the same month a year earlier, while the number of people deemed inadmissable—nearly 60,000—rose 8 percent.

Continual updating of information on trends will help in developing forecasts for the future, both within the department and outside. The monthly report will also help transportation decision-makers spot changes that might require rapid action.

The statistical significance of these statements has not been tested. BTS is testing a statistical monitoring process in order to apply statistical quality control techniques to the Indicators data.

New Indicators beginning this month are:

• Admissibility of People at U.S. Borders
• Southwest Border Apprehensions (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas)