By Mohamed Attia
Soaring fuel prices, which are caused by the American-Israeli war on Iran, have led to disruptions in the global aviation sector, pushing airlines to raise airfares and revise their financial forecasts.
Airplane fuel prices increased from $90 per barrel to between $150 and $200 per barrel over the past few weeks.
SunExpress airline, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, said that starting from the beginning of next May, it will impose a temporary fuel surcharge of about €10 per passenger. This surcharge will apply to flights between Türkiye and Europe.
Meanwhile, officials at the Malaysian airline said that the airline has reduced its flights by 10 per cent and also imposed a fuel surcharge of about 20 per cent.
Air France stated that it plans to increase airfares on long-haul flights to face rising fuel prices. It is expected that ticket prices will increase by €50 per round trip.
Kenton Jarvis, the CEO of easyJet, said that European travellers should expect rising airfares toward the end of the summer.
Cathay Pacific airline, based in Hong Kong, stated that it increased fuel surcharges by 34 per cent across all its routes starting from April.
Cathay Pacific’s CEO pointed out that flight capacity will remain the same despite rising fuel prices, adding that the plan to increase passenger capacity by 10 per cent may be reviewed if demand declines due to higher costs.
