Business
Airlines Under Threat From Surge in Jet-Fuel Costs
A surge in jet-fuel costs is threatening major disruptions for global airlines as the conflict in the Middle East continues to drive up crude-oil prices.
Oil prices are up about 50% so far this year and jet-fuel prices have more than doubled, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note Friday. The spread between jet-fuel prices and underlying oil prices are exceeding the total per-barrel price of oil in regions like the Gulf Coast and West Coast, they said.
The last time this happened was in 2005 in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which caused significant and widespread damage to the airline industry and played a factor in Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the analysts said.