New York is known for the high prices of just about everything — the average studio apartment rents for upwards of $3,000 a month while the average monthly grocery bill is nearly $100 higher than the national average.
While the city's ongoing battle against short-term rentals has also fueled an astronomical spike in hotel rates, travel into the city was one factor that up until now has managed to buck the expensive trend. As there are significantly more daily flights to choose from, large airports such as New York's JFK and LAX in Los Angeles generally have cheaper fares than small cities where one has no choice but pay what is set by one or two airlines.
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But according to recent Bureau of Transportation numbers, the average price of domestic airfare out of JFK has reached $424.33 in the first quarter of 2023. This is a steep increase from a year ago and higher than the $389.46 average seen out of LAX in Los Angeles or $382.11 out of Boston's Logan International Airport.
Airfare out of New York has jumped significantly (here's the reason)
At a $400.49 average, prices in and out of Newark are also higher than both the national average and equivalent large cities. Both airports in the city saw a 21% increase in airfare from a year ago.
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New York's Laguardia Airport bucked the trend somewhat with a $325.76 average but is still a 20% increase from 2022. Similar jumps in average prices were seen in smaller airports outside the city such Albany International (ALB) — a jump from $358.56 in 2022 to $430.72 in 2023.
Multiple budget airlines fly into New York Stewart International (SWF) instead of the three main airports but the $159.67 average is still a 16% jump from a year ago. The only airport in the state that saw its airfare drop was Westchester County Airport (HPN) — the average domestic airfare fell 10% to $369.08 from $380.21 in the first quarter of the year.
United CEO once called airline industry's staffing goals 'unachievable' (that's very bad for prices)
The reason that airfare in and out of New York in particular has a lot to do with the pandemic and the government's efforts to help airlines meet the rush of travel demand amid a dearth of airline staff. In the spring of 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily suspended minimum flight requirements at New York City and Washington, D.C. airports as major carriers such as United Airlines (UAL) -) and Delta (DAL) -) struggled to find the staff to run the flights.
The airline industry said that the situation has "not meaningfully improved" by the fall and the FAA once again extended the suspension until Oct. 28.
As a result, airlines are permitted to fly fewer flights out of New York's airports and demand for the ones that do run are high. Analysts predict prices to continue rising until the restrictions are lifted and more flights start coming out of New York — a looped problem because doing so will first require finding the staff.
"We believe the industry capacity aspirations for 2023 and beyond are simply unachievable," United CEO Scott Kirby said during a January 2023 earnings call. "That means the system simply can't handle the volume today, much less the anticipated growth. Like it or not, that's just the new reality and the new math for all airlines."
