Average domestic air fares fell by 9 percent during the first three months of 2009 from the final three months of 2008, in the biggest quarter-to-quarter drop since the federal government began keeping such records.

The national average of nearly $315 for first-quarter fares were down 6 percent from a year earlier and down by 12.5 percent from the record-high average fares of $360 in the third quarter of 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported on Wednesday, July 29.

The government reports average fares based on domestic itinerary fares, round-trip or one-way. Those fare figures include the price charged by the airlines plus any additional taxes and fees levied by an outside entity on the purchase, the government said.

The government’s statistics also indicated a vigorous fare price competition between the Dayton and Columbus airports.

Port Columbus International Airport had an average fare of $284.52 in the first three months of this year, compared with $295.78 at Dayton International Airport and $445.82 at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. During the final quarter of 2008, the Columbus average was $317.86, Dayton $330.38 and Cincinnati $554.33, compared with a national average of $346.51. Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, which consistently has among the most expensive fares in the nation, had the second-highest average fare of the nation’s top 100 airports during this year’s first quarter. But the Cincinnati airport still managed to post the largest average decrease in fares with a 17 percent drop from last year to 2009, the government reported.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.