The $340 third-quarter 2010 average fares were down 5.4 percent from the all-time high, not inflation-adjusted, of $359 in the third quarter of 2008.  Third quarter 2010 average fares were up 14.6 percent from the post-9/11 third-quarter low of $297 in 2004, not adjusted for inflation. Adjusted for inflation, third-quarter 2010 fares in 1995 dollars were $238, down 19.8 percent from the average fare of $297 in the third quarter of 2000, the inflation-adjusted high for any third-quarter since 1995. BTS air fare records reach back to 1995.

Passenger airlines collected 71.1 percent of their total revenue from passenger fares during the first nine months of 2010. During the full year 2009, the percent of revenue from fares was 70.2 percent, down from 84.1 percent in 2000. 

Air fares in the third quarter of 2010 increased 0.9 percent from the third quarter of 2000, compared to an overall increase in consumer prices of 25.8 percent during that period. In the 15 years from 1995, the first year of BTS air fare records, air fares rose 18.2 percent compared to a 42.6 percent inflation rate. In 1995 dollars, the average air fare in the third quarter of 2010 was $238, compared to $288 in 1995 and $297 in 2000. 

Five highest and five lowest average fares in the third quarter: Newark-Liberty had the highest average fare, $469, while Atlantic City had the lowest, $153.  Five largest increases and five largest decreases from the third quarter of 2009 to the third quarter of 2010: Charleston, SC, had the largest increase, 27.2 percent, and Grand Rapids, MI had the largest decrease, 9.2 percent.