The average fourth-quarter 2015 U.S. domestic airfare
dropped 8.3 percent year over year to $363, its lowest fourth-quarter level
since 2010 when adjusted for inflation, the U.S. Department of Transportation
reported. Domestic fares were higher than their low of $350 during the
recession of 2009, but carriers have lost some of the fare gains they have made
since then. Fares in the third quarter of 2015, the most recent quarter for
which such data are available, accounted for 75 percent of total quarterly revenue, down from 87.6 percent in 1995.