FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 3, 2001
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel: (202) 366-5571
DOT 2-01

To provide additional information about domestic airline prices, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has released its quarterly consumer report on domestic airline fares, covering the second quarter of 2000.

Airlines report fare information to DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The report covers the same top 1,000 city-pair markets in the 48 contiguous states that were in the first report of this series, which covered the third quarter of 1996. The report also looks at fares in 267 additional city pairs that have been in the top 1,000 during previous quarters covered by this report series.

The report provides four basic types of information:

! For each city-pair market, the average one-way fare, the number of one-way passenger trips per day, and the nonstop distance. Also included is fare and market share information for the airline with the largest market share, and the airline with the lowest average fare.

! A city-by-city information summary for the largest cities, showing the number of passengers, the average fare, average fare per mile traveled (yield) and average distance traveled.

! Price and traffic information about city-pair markets that experienced increases or decreases in average fares of more than 30 percent compared with one year ago.

! Detailed fare information for the highest and lowest fares for city-pair markets including the percentage of passengers paying the minimum fare, the maximum fare and three times the minimum fare.

The report also includes a special feature looking at the effects of new-entrant carrier JetBlue’s service between Buffalo, N.Y., and New York’s JFK International Airport on traffic at LaGuardia and Newark, N.J., the other two airports serving New York City. According to the report, overall traffic levels in the Buffalo-New York City market increased by 54 percent after JetBlue’s entry, and average one-way fares decreased by 20 percent.

The department will continue to issue the domestic airfare report each quarter. Based upon public input, DOT will consider modifying the information in the report to provide the fullest consumer benefit. The report can be obtained via the World Wide Web at http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation.

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