AIRLINE TICKET PRICES ARE COMING BACK TO EARTH

After soaring in 2022, prices for domestic airline tickets are on the descent. In June 2023, airfares had dropped by 8.1% from May and by 18.9% over the previous 12 months, according to the June Consumer Price Index report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

- LISA GERSTNER

Booming supply and changing demand are the two key drivers of the decrease, says Scott Keyes, founder of Going, a website that provides airfare alerts and information. "While 2022 was characterized by pilot and plane shortages, airlines have been making steady progress on both fronts this year. More capacity is getting added to the flight system every month, and because aircraft have gotten significantly larger on average over the past decade, the number of available seats is already higher today than pre-pandemic," says Keyes. And passengers are less willing to pay infl