Peak Season Air Transportation

The Postal Service’s Peak Season lasts about eight weeks, starting on or around Thanksgiving Day in November and ending on or around Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January. Since FY 2018, the average cost of the Postal Service’s air network per day during Peak Season increased from $8.7 million to $9.8 million (12.6 percent increase). The highest Peak Season average volume per day was [redacted] million pounds in FY 2019. Despite less volume during the FY 2020 Peak Season (November 28, 2019 – January 20, 2020), the cost per pound to transport mail by air continued to rise – from [redacted] in FY 2018 to [redacted] in FY 2020 (10.9 percent increase). Our objective was to assess the Postal Service’s efforts to reduce Peak Season air transportation operational costs while maintaining service during fiscal year (FY) 2019 and FY 2020.