A drop in US jet fuel consumption verifies what travelers have felt for months: Airlines haven’t been able to keep up with summer travel demand. Carriers contending with labor shortages and higher fuel prices have curtailed flight capacity this summer, limiting their ability to take full advantage of surging demand for air travel. That has put a cap on fuel consumption, which last week fell to the lowest seasonal level in a year, according to government data. Analysts had expected both jet fuel demand and flight activity “to encroach historic levels as we progressed into the summer months,” said Matt Murphy, director ... (full story)