Airfares tumble, helping bring down overall inflation.

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Airfares took another dive last month, following a wild ride over the past year, reflecting volatile energy prices and swings in demand. Prices have dropped 18.9 percent in the year through June, or 8.1 percent between May and June, even as passenger traffic has reached record highs. The numbers are somewhat deceptive, however, because of a combination of circumstances. Ticket prices spiked last summer as Americans planned the vacations they were denied during the pandemic. At the same time, airlines struggled to provide seats, having mothballed planes while nobody was flying and having let go of staff in a wave of retirements by pilots and other personnel. Then, jet fuel prices shot up, and air carriers passed the extra costs on to customers. Those factors have eased markedly in recent months. Airlines have been hiring aggressively for all positions and adding flights, bringing capacity back up to prepandemic levels. And as energy prices have moderated, ticket prices have receded as well.