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Southwest and American Airlines jets deployed at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) (David McNew/Getty Images)
Domestic airline fares across the U.S. jumped 4.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, compared with the first quarter of 2009, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported on Wednesday.
The increase only includes the airline fares and not baggage handling fees or extra fees paid to take carry-on items onto the aircraft.
In the first quarter of 2010, prices were down around 25 percent compared with an inflation-adjusted average price of $435 during the first quarter of 1999—the all-time high for airfares, the Bureau said. Without inflation, the average price in 1999 were around $332.
Unadjusted for inflation, airline fares peaked in the third quarter of 2008 at $333.
Average airline fares were up 2.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009.
The Air Transport Association (ATA), a group which represents U.S. airlines, released a statement which said that consumers are getting a deal with today's relatively low prices.
The trade group noted that airlines have been hurting in the past decade, which in a statement, they dubbed the “lost decade.”
ATA President and CEO James C. May said in a statement that “for airlines to add jobs and develop new and improved service, it is critically important that they return to profitability.”
The highest average fare during the first quarter of 2010 could be found in Hunstville, Alabama and the lowest was in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the BTS report noted.
