Australia’s Qantas Airways, Scandinavia’s SAS and Air New Zealand have announced airfare hikes, blaming an abrupt spike in the cost of fuel caused by the US-Israel attack on Iran that is rattling the global aviation sector.
Jet fuel prices, which were around $85 to $90 per barrel before the attack on Iran, have soared to between $150 and $200, New Zealand’s flag carrier said on Tuesday as it suspended its financial outlook for 2026 due to uncertainty over the conflict.
The war, which disrupted shipping via the world’s most vital oil export route, has sent oil prices surging, upending global travel, pushing airline ticket prices on some routes sky-high, and sparking fears of a deep travel slump.
“Increases of this magnitude make it necessary to react in order to maintain stable and reliable operations,” an SAS spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters, adding it had implemented a “temporary price adjustment”.
The largest Scandinavian airline last year temporarily adjusted its fuel hedging policy due to uncertain market conditions and said that it had no fuel consumption hedged for the following 12 months.
Several Asian and European airlines, including Lufthansa and Ryanair, have oil hedging in place, securing a part of their fuel supplies at fixed prices.
Finnair, which had hedged over 80 percent of its first-quarter fuel purchases, warned that even the availability of fuel could be at risk if the conflict dragged on.
Kuwait, a major jet fuel exporter to northwest Europe, has faced output cuts.
