Expect the cost of your airfare to continue to rise, an aviation trade group head warn

The cost of your next flight is likely to go up.

That’s the word from the International Air Transport Association, which held its annual meeting yesterday in Dubai, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates.

While carriers recover from the groundings worldwide from the coronavirus pandemic, industry leaders told journalists that there are several costs likely to push those ticket prices ever higher.

Part of that comes from worldwide inflation, an ongoing problem since the pandemic started. Jet fuel costs, roughly a third of all airline expenses, remain high.

Meanwhile, a global push for the aviation industry to decarbonize has more carriers fighting for the little amount of so-called sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, available in the market.

“The airlines will continue to do everything they can to keep costs in control as much as possible for the benefit of consumers,” said Willie Walsh, the director-general of the the International Air Transport Association, an industry-trade group.

“But I think it’s unrealistic to expect that airlines can continue to absorb all of the costs. … It’s not something we like to do, but it’s something we have to do.”