U.S. General Services Administration
GSA City Pair Program Creates Economic Growth By Awarding Eight New Contracts for FY22
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) awarded its Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 City Pair Program scheduled airline passenger transportation services contracts, which are projected to save the federal government an estimated $1 billion next FY. This continues GSA’s proven track record of providing the best value for the government and the American people.
Under the GSA City Pair Program, airfare rates for official government travel are firm-fixed-price and offer a 49.8% discount on comparable commercial fares. In addition to offering considerable discounts, City Pair fares allow the federal government maximum flexibility in how it books official air travel, including benefits such as no cancellation or change fees.
“As official government travel resumes on a larger scale, GSA’s City Pair Program helps agencies meet their missions while saving taxpayer money,” said GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Commissioner Sonny Hashmi. “For more than 40 years, the City Pair Program has leveraged the government’s buying power to provide significant savings for federal agency travel.”
GSA’s City Pair Program awarded contracts to eight U.S. air carriers for FY 2022:
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- JetBlue Airways
- Silver Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- United Airlines
The City Pair Program launched in 1980 with 11 markets. Today, with 12,626 line item markets awarded, this Best-in-Class solution is not just one of the largest governmentwide contracts awarded by FAS each year, it’s the single largest strategically sourced procurement for negotiated airfares in the world.
GSA’s data-driven analytical approach to managing the program and negotiating with air carriers drives cost savings and program performance:
- Average domestic fares awarded will decrease to $209 in FY 2022 versus $216 in FY 2021.
- Average international fares will increase slightly to $746 in FY 2022 versus $740 in FY 2021.
- For FY 2022, 92.4% of awards made (11,669 markets) offer two discounted fares, providing flexibility for immediate travel and more deeply discounted fares for booking flights early.
- When compared to projected corporate fares, City Pair fares are estimated to save $106 million in FY 2022.
When awarding City Pair contracts to airlines, GSA considers a number of criteria, including availability of non-stop service, total number of flights, flight availability, average elapsed flight time, and price of service.
The FY 2022 City Pair fares are effective October 1, 2021.
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About GSA: GSA provides centralized procurement for the federal government, managing a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet and overseeing approximately $75 billion in annual contracts. GSA’s mission is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services across government, in support of the Biden-Harris administration’s priorities. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow us at @USGSA.