Will Flight Prices Rise In 2026 Due To Jet Fuel Costs?

The chief executive of British Airways (BA), Sean Doyle, has warned that flight prices will soar if jet fuel costs remain high.

Speaking to the Financial Times (FT) at the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s yearly meeting, Doyle said “there’s no getting away from [the reality that] if fuel goes up, fares have to go up”.

According to The Guardian, at the same meeting, IATA’s director general, Willie Walsh, said: “High oil prices will inevitably mean higher ticket prices… There’s just no way to avoid that.”

Jet fuel costs have reportedly doubled since the closure of the key shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz, as a result of conflict in the Middle East.

British Airways previously suggested prices may rise as a result of these costs.

Speaking to the FT, Doyle said that longer-haul flights might be more affected should price increases go ahead.

“When people’s purpose to travel is business and doing deals … those price increases are kind of peripheral to the reason they’re travelling,” the airline boss said.

“A brand like BA, which has got a lot of long-haul, a lot of corporate, a lot of premium, we’d expect maybe to have more pass-through of prices than maybe a carrier who’s solely competing for leisure short-haul.”

Still, he noted, plane ticket prices haven’t risen in line with inflation and have generally stayed around ’90s levels in some cases.

“We had fares in 1995 of Barcelona for £60 one way. You can go on BA.com and probably get Barcelona for not too much more than that off-peak,” he claimed.

One study found that between 1990 and 2016, the price of plane tickets dropped by 40% per mile when adjusted for inflation.

Doyle also said that the airline will resume flights to the Gulf, which have been paused after the outbreak of the Iran war, in the coming months.

And he said British Airways will also restart its routes to Dubai, though he doesn’t expect this to begin again until October 2026.

Cathay Pacific Airways is considering cutting flights after the 2026 summer season if jet fuel costs continue to soar, Bloomberg reported.

Air New Zealand has also hiked prices following increasingly expensive fuel costs.

And the following airlines that service the UK have previously said they plan to run fewer flights after ballooning costs:

• KLM

• Air Canada

• Asiana Airlines

• Delta Airlines

• Lufthansa

• SAS.

Meanwhile, some bosses, like Ryanair CFO Neil Sorahan, said they aren’t worried about jet fuel shortages yet.

He recently remarked: “Do we have plans for some kind of Armageddon situation? Of course, we do, but I don’t see that coming to pass. As things stand, we’re operating a full schedule this summer and plan to operate a full schedule into the winter period.”