A4A Passenger Airline Cost Index Tables, Revision 2023.4

Description

A4A Quarterly Cost Index: U.S. Passenger Airlines A4A produces the Airline Cost Index to monitor trends in the cost of inputs (e.g., labor, fuel, food, aircraft ownership, airport landing fees, insurance, utilities, interest) to the provision of air service over time. The various indices also facilitate comparisons among the components themselves and between airline costs and broader economic indicators. Long-term cost trends are important determinants of airfares. While the Airline Cost Index includes cost per available seat mile (CASM), the traditional measure of airline unit operating costs, the index values themselves are the superior bellwethers of the price of inputs to production. CASM can mask the true cost of an input because it also reflects changes in productivity over time.

This is the current version of the cost index.

Notes