The cost of jet fuel is going up, and the industry is having trouble making money after the pandemic.
It is anticipated that the prices of airline tickets will go up even further.
Top aviation executives told CNBC this week that the cost of flying could go up even more in the coming months.
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, William Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said that prices might go up because the US isn’t refining as much oil, which makes jet fuel more expensive, and the pandemic has caused financial problems for airlines.
The US’s ability to turn crude oil into fuel and other products has dropped to its lowest level since 2014, according to a report released by the federal government in June. The drop was caused by the closing of refineries in the country over the past few years.
In the US, airline ticket prices have gone up by 25% in the past year, which is the biggest jump in one year since 1989, and they are still going up.
CNBC quoted the CEO of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, as saying that the fallout from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is another reason why flight prices are going up around the world.
Al Baker said that the conflict will “fuel inflation, which will put more pressure on the supply chain,” and it will also cause the price of oil to be unstable.
Also, airlines have had to use different routes in recent months to avoid flying over Ukraine and Russia. According to the travel website ViaTravelers.com, flights from London to Delhi now have to take a detour, which adds several hours to the flight time.
