Cities across the United States – and particularly in the Midwest – are seeing the cost of flying to them soar, and it’s killing them.

According to a study by CheapAir.com, smaller destination cities are seeing much steeper airfare price hikes than larger ones. Some of the cities seeing the largest price hikes include Dayton, Ohio; Flint, Michigan; Des Moines, Iowa; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Cincinatti, Ohio; which all saw airfares to them rise by more than 30% this year.

Other cities on the edges of the U.S., like West Palm Beach, Florida, and Spokane, Washington, have also experienced higher-than-average increases in airfare costs.

The cities that saw the greatest percentage increase in airfare prices were Dayton with a 42% increase; Greensboro, North Carolina, and Flint, which both had increases of 48%.

More popular destinations like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have also seen airfare price increases, but nowhere near as steep as the smaller cities.

Executives at American, United, and JetBlue airlines have said that much of the ticket price increases are due to rising fuel costs, which are forcing them to charge more.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)