Curiosities: Insight into fuel's effect on airline ticket prices
Q. Given the typical percentage capacity (assuming many flights are not completely full) on a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles, how much would the average coach ticket need to be raised to cover the increased cost of fuel?A. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a Boeing 757-200 uses 900 gallons per hour, said Charles Krueger, associate professor of executive education at UW-Madison.
Another key variable in this question comes from the International Air Transport Association, which reports that jet fuel prices as of June 13 were $3.911 per gallon.
United Airlines Flight 842, for example -- a Boeing 757-200 -- from Chicago to Los Angeles takes approximately four hours.
"So we are looking at approximately 900 gallons per hour, times four hours, equals 3,600 gallons of fuel," Krueger says. "At $3.911 per gallon, that equals $14,080, or $3,520 per hour."
More numbers to consider: At Boeing's rated capacity of 182 passengers, fuel cost per passenger would be about 19.8 gallons per passenger, or $77.36. The round trip flight is quoted at $427, and fuel cost is a little more than 36 percent of the cost of this flight.
Krueger's bottom-line estimate? A dollar increase in fuel costs would increase the cost of this ticket $19.78 each way, or a little more than 9 percent.
-- Produced in cooperation with University Communications.
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