--- title: Airlines Are Swimming in Profits Thanks to Cheap Fuel, High Fees description: Southwest, Delta, and American Airlines are enjoying record-high profits on the backs of cheap fuel costs and high passenger fees. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Business - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2016-01-21T19:14:15.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T10:50:36.000Z' section: Business tags: - Airline Fees - Airlines - Travel word_count: 444 canonical: https://money.com/airline-profits-airfare-fees-fuel-costs/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![An aviation ground crew member pumps fuel into a Southwest Airlines' plane April 23, 2008, at Los Angeles International Airport.](https://img.money.com/2016/01/160121_em_airlinefuel.jpg) To some extent, travelers should be happy. Early 2016 has ushered in a series of impressive airfare sales—think: one-way domestic flights under $50—to go along with a downward trend for flight prices in general. According to data from [Hopper.com](http://www.hopper.com/research/consumer-airfare-index-predicted-bottom-month/), the average round trip in the U.S. runs $210 for January 2016, a three-year low, and down 14% compared to the same month a year ago. Yet when travelers catch wind of how much the airlines have been saving on fuel lately, they have good reason to be upset—because their savings on airfare is a pittance compared to the profits airlines are reaping thanks to phenomenally cheap fuel costs. This week, [Delta reported](http://airport.blog.ajc.com/2016/01/19/delta-reports-4-5-billion-profit-for-2015/) a $980 million profit for the fourth quarter of 2015, as well as $4.5 billion in profits for the year as a whole. The year represented “a record for Delta on all fronts,” Delta CEO Richard Anderson said in a statement. The profits came largely on the back of low fuel prices. During the fourth quarter, Delta's operating revenues actually decreased 2%. Yet fuel costs were so low that the carrier took in record profits anyway. The profits-via-cheap-fuel equation is likely to work in Delta's favor even more in 2016, as the airline anticipates fuel-related savings of up to $3 billion this year. The story is similar for Southwest Airlines, which recorded a record-high fourth-quarter profit of $536 million "as fuel costs fell by nearly one-third and offset lower fares and rising labor costs," the [*Dallas Morning News*](http://www.dallasnews.com/business/airline-industry/20160121-southwest-airlines-4q-profit-soars-on-cheaper-jet-fuel.ece) reported. Southwest cut its fuel bill by 32% last year, and it too anticipates bigger savings in 2016—paying only $1.70 per gallon during the first quarter, compared to $2 for the same period in 2015. While revenues were down slightly in the fourth quarter for United Airlines, it too saw handsome profits of $823 million largely due to cheap fuel. The airline's fuel bill [fell 36%](http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35377077) compared to a year earlier, a savings of $912 million. [American Airlines](http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=117098&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2127747) will announce its fourth quarter and 2015 results at the end of January, but in all likelihood the story will be similar to its peers. The airline reported [record-high profits](http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-american-airlines-profits-20151023-story.html) for earlier periods of 2015, after all, with fuel costs dropping 43.5% during the third quarter, for instance. Oh, and it's worth mentioning that just six U.S. airlines took in $18 billion in fees from passengers in 2015, an [increase of 19%](http://skift.com/2015/11/10/airline-fee-revenue-expected-to-reach-nearly-60-billion-in-2015/) from 2014 and an astonishing 163% compared to 2010. Summing up the feelings of many frustrated, beaten-down travelers, Charlie Leocha, chairman of the consumer-advocacy group [Travelers United](http://www.travelersunited.org/), told [*USA Today*](http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2016/01/12/airline-profits-2015/78647924/) recently, “While consumers are getting less, the airlines continue to see their profits soar." ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits-airfare-fees-fuel-costs/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Business", "item": "https://money.com/business/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Customer Service", "item": "https://money.com/customer-service/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Airlines Are Swimming in Profits Thanks to Cheap Fuel, High Fees" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits-airfare-fees-fuel-costs/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/airline-profits-airfare-fees-fuel-costs/", "name": "Airlines Are Swimming in Profits Thanks to Cheap Fuel, High Fees", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-01-21T19:14:15.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits-airfare-fees-fuel-costs/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits-airfare-fees-fuel-costs/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:50:36.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Airlines Are Swimming in Profits Thanks to Cheap Fuel, High Fees", "articleSection": "Business", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/01/160121_em_airlinefuel.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1465, "caption": "160121_EM_AirlineFuel" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-01-21T19:14:15.000Z", "description": "Southwest, Delta, and American Airlines are enjoying record-high profits on the backs of cheap fuel costs and high passenger fees.", "abstract": "Southwest, Delta, and American Airlines are enjoying record-high profits on the backs of cheap fuel costs and high passenger fees.", "@id": "https://money.com/airline-profits-airfare-fees-fuel-costs/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:50:36.000Z", "wordCount": 444, "keywords": [ "Airline Fees", "Airlines", "Travel" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Business", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Customer service", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_service" ] } ] } ] } ```