Report: Airfares have jumped more than 6%

PHOENIX - You’re paying more than 6 percent more on airfare this year than last, according to a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Average domestic airfares rose nationally to $361 in the third quarter of 2011 from $340 in the third quarter 2010.

Cincinnati had the highest average airfares in the country, at $488, and Atlantic City has the lowest, at just $167, according to the report.

Average fares are based on domestic itinerary fares, which are usually round-trip fares. The fares are based on the total ticket value, including additional taxes and fees you’re charged when you buy the ticket, but not baggage fees.

Average airfares in Phoenix have fluctuated with the economy over the last decade.

In the third quarter of last year, the average fare to fly in Phoenix rose to nearly $317 a ticket. That’s almost $50 higher than the average airfare in the third quarter of 2000 in Phoenix, $269. Fares fell almost as low in 2009 in Phoenix when the recession hit the country and the average fare in Phoenix was just under $276.

That trend reflected price changes in airfare over the last few years nationally. The prices for the third quarter of 2011 nationally were up 17.5 percent from a third-quarter low of $307 in 2009 during the height of the recession.

Not adjusted for inflation, these were the second highest fares nationally of any quarter. In the second quarter of 2011, average fares topped out at $370.

Prices last quarter almost met the previous third-quarter high of $359 in 2008, not adjusted for inflation.