There's a common misconception that the cost of jet fuel is what makes air travel so expensive. But while jets do require 1.5 gallons of fuel for every mile they travel, that cost gets broken down between passengers so much that it only accounts for a small percentage of each traveler's ticket price. In fact, planes have an excellent per-person fuel efficiency of 104.7 miles per gallon. So why the high prices for a plane ticket? It's a collection of miscellaneous fees and taxes, including pilots' salaries, crew costs, airplane maintenance, airplane cost, airport fees, airline cost of running business, airplane insurance, and more.