by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 8:50 AM ET, Fri April 11, 2025
Airfares dropped 5.3 percent this March from the month prior, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.
The Consumer Price Index also noted the drop continued from February when prices declined by four percent from January.
According to sister publication Travel Weekly, economic uncertainty is causing corporate and leisure travel demand in the United States to wane, and has hurt consumer confidence.
Major US air carriers have all changed their first-quarter profit forecasts, and Delta, the first airline to release its first-quarter report, held off on a full-year prediction due to the uncertainty. The airline expects growth to stall.
In February, IATA predicted that the profit from North American airlines would increase 15 percent this year due to high demand and a lower capacity caused by Boeing’s backlog of new aircraft. ARC data reported the highest monthly booking total for U.S. travel agency ticket sales in its history back in December, totaling $99.2 billion. This number was predicted to only grow in 2025.
Now, those predictions of upward momentum are stalling, at least for the time being.
IATA’s latest report on global air passenger demand noted that while air travel grew in all regions of the world in February, only North America saw a decline of 3.2 percent, citing “the current concerns of US consumers regarding policy and economic factors” as a primary contributor to the decline.
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