Airline giant Delta warns oil increases mean higher ticket prices

Higher oil prices are set to lead to a 10% increase in air fares, according to the boss of one of the world's biggest airlines. Delta head Ed Bastian said the final impact "really depends where fuel prices settle". Oil prices have reached 14-year highs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Emirates, Japan Airlines and AirAsia are among the big carriers to introduce surcharges on their tickets recently to cover the higher cost of jet fuel. Before the pandemic, in 2019, 200m customers flew on Delta, making it the world's second biggest airline by passenger numbers. Bastian said that on a domestic US flight the rise in fuel prices "is probably about $25 on a ticket, that could be anywhere between 5% to 10% at these high levels of oil... and international [flights] will be a bit higher than that". Delta is planning to introduce fuel surcharges on the international flights which account for about 35% of its business, and increase US ticket prices.<br/>