Flying has actually gotten much cheaper in the last 20 years

Flying has actually gotten cheaper over the last 20 years — let that sink in for a second.

The US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics compiled the average domestic airfare of US airports from 1995 to 2015, taking inflation into consideration, and shockingly proved that with a few ups and downs, over the last 20 years the average cost of a flight has generally decreased.

The reasoning behind this is that competition has been driving fares down and airlines are struggling to make a profit — despite packing people into economy like livestock. This has been a trend since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, but has continued ever since.

To prove it, we chose the five busiest US airports — Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York — and plotted the price of their average airfare over the last 20 years on a graph.

Take a look below.

BI Graphics_Cheaper Flying Fares

(Dylan Roach/Business Insider)

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