The cost of air travel finally fell last year, after the mid-2014 plunge in energy prices intensified scrutiny on airline industry business practices.
The average airfare fell in 2015 by 8.3 percent to $363, according to Department of Transportation (DOT) data released Tuesday. The last time prices fell in a comparable manner was in 2009, after the global financial crisis lowered both consumer demand and wholesale energy costs.
As early as December 2014, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the Department of Justice and DOT to investigate the possibility of price-fixing by major airlines, citing recent energy market trends.
“The industry often raises prices in a flash when oil prices spike, yet they appear not to be adjusting for the historic decline in the cost of fuel,” he said. “Ticket prices should not shoot up like a rocket and come down like a feather.”
At the time, oil prices in the US had fallen over the past six months to about $55, from a peak of $105. The average airfare in 2014, meanwhile, increased by 2 percent to $396, according to DOT.
Airline ticket prices had gone up in 2013 by 0.6 percent and had fallen the year before that, by 0.2 percent, the same DOT dataset shows. From 2012-2014, the price of oil in the US rarely dipped below $90.
Last summer, the Justice Department confirmed it was investigating possible collusion by Delta Air Lines, Southwest, American Airlines and United Airlines. The four companies control about 80 percent of the US air travel market.
