US cities most, least affected by airfare increases
Airfare costs are rising as demand surges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and fuel prices skyrocketing, but some cities are feeling these ticket hikes more than others.
According to a new year-over-year study by CheapAir.com, travelers departing from Dayton, Ohio, can expect to pay 42% more (a difference of $109) for an average domestic airline ticket compared to last year.
CheapAir found that the cities with the biggest increases in airfares are home to smaller airports servicing smaller metropolitan areas. “The larger airports with more traffic saw airfare increases as well, just not to the extent of the smaller cities,” the website stated.
Trailing Dayton is Flint, Michigan, and Greensboro, North Carolina, where airfares are up a whopping 38% compared to 2021. Des Moines, Iowa, is seeing ticket prices 36% higher than last year while airfares in Spokane, Washington, are up 35%. Akron, Ohio (34%), Cincinnati, Ohio (34%), Little Rock, Arkansas (34%), West Palm Beach, Florida (34%) and Grand Rapids, Michigan (33%) round out the list of the 10 U.S. cities being hit the hardest this spring.
On the other end of the spectrum, ManchesterBoston Regional Airport has been far less impacted by the airfare increases, experiencing hikes of just 14% this year compared to last year. Houston (15%), San Juan, Puerto Rico (16%), Newark, New Jersey (17%) and San Francisco (17%) also rank among the places least impacted by the current airfare trends.
Boston (19%), Washington, D.C. (19%), Chicago (20%), Tampa (20%) and Denver (22%) round out the least impacted cities in terms of airfare increases.