Mystery Solved: US Jet Fuel Consumption Won't Increase As Quickly As Travel Demand -- EIA -- March 19, 2021

Travel: 

• one mystery solved;
• US jet fuel consumption won't increase as quickly as air travel demand -- EIA; link here;

Let me explain; it was probably obvious to everyone but me. I completely missed it.  See my note of March 17, 2021.

If that is accurate, this really, really bodes well for the airlines. Increasing load factor but spending less money on jet fuel. Wow!

So, what did I miss, that everyone else must have seen.

Two things, one minor, one major.

Minor: the airlines are coming back with more efficient jets including the "new" Boeing 737 Max.

Major:

• for the past year, airlines were flying "empty" -- okay, not "empty" but not at full load factor;
• self-imposed limited capacity on each aircraft;
• at a minimum, the middle seat was left empty; one-third of all seats were purposely not sold;
• the airlines have quietly started selling those middle seats;

Going forward: the most interesting data point to follow coming out of the weekly EIA petroleum report -- jet fuel delivered.

The second most interested data point to follow: gasoline demand. 

However, the two data points may be quite confusing, difficult to explain. At least for me. My hunch: readers will figure it out before I do. LOL.