Memphis airfares continue to fall

Prices dip for 15th quarter in a row as traffic rises

Memphis airfares are down for a 15th consecutive quarter since peaking in the winter of 2012.

The latest U.S. Department of Transportation report says average round-trip domestic fares in the April-June quarter dropped to $390.24, down $28.46 from a year earlier. The average Memphis fare peaked at an inflation-adjusted $546 in the first quarter of 2012.

Memphis International Airport officials credited lower fares, sparked by the demise of Delta Air Lines’ hub and an influx of low-cost carriers, with boosting air travel by area residents.

Local, or origin and destination (O&D) passengers, are up more than 400 passengers a day each way, or 8 percent, since 2015.

“We’re thrilled that more O&D passengers are departing from (Memphis), and lower airfares are helping to drive that growth,” Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority chairman Pace Cooper said. “These positive trends are a combination of new airlines, added flights from existing carriers and upgauging to larger planes to key destinations.”

Airport spokesman Glen Thomas said Memphis fares ranked 30th-highest among the nation’s busiest 100 airports, That was two spots higher than 32nd in the January-March quarter of 2016.

Memphians complained about high airfares for many years when the airport had less competition among carriers because of the Northwest and then Delta passenger hubs.

The airport’s’ average fare was consistently among the 10 highest in the country until Delta finished a major downsizing in fall 2013.

The Memphis price was still 10 percent above the national average of $353 in the second quarter. The DOT said the national average was down 9.6 percent from a year earlier.