British Airways signals further fare increases as fuel costs stay high

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British Airways fare increase

Highlights

British Airways CEO Sean Doyle warns fares must rise further if jet fuel prices, which have doubled since February, remain high due to ongoing Strait of Hormuz closure.
BA plans to resume Gulf flights in coming months, with Dubai service returning in October, while reallocating aircraft to routes like Bengaluru amid regional disruption.
Doyle urges UK government to lower tourism taxes, citing air passenger duty as a barrier to reaching the goal of 50 million annual tourists, up from 40 million.

Fuel cost pressure and pricing strategy

As reported by Financial Times, British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle says fares will have to rise further if fuel prices remain high, with the airline facing a sharp increase in operating costs since the Iran war began in February.

Jet fuel prices have doubled over that period, while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed despite ceasefire talks. The route accounts for about 40 percent of Europe’s jet fuel, adding to pressure on airlines already trying to recover higher expenses through ticket pricing.

British Airways warned last month that it would raise prices, especially in business class, to offset fuel costs. Doyle says any further increases are likely to be more pronounced on long-haul routes than on short-haul services, where competition is more intense.

He says business travel and premium demand give BA more room to pass on higher costs than airlines focused mainly on leisure short-haul traffic. He also argues that airfare growth still lags inflation, with some current fares comparable to levels seen in the 1990s.

Route adjustments and pressure on UK tourism policy

British Airways is also reallocating aircraft that no longer fly to the Gulf to other routes, including services to Bengaluru. The airline plans to resume flights to the Gulf in the coming months, although Dubai is not expected to return until October, at the start of BA’s winter season, which runs through April.

Doyle says Dubai has historically been one of the airline’s biggest winter destinations and indicates the route will return even if recovery takes longer. The operational changes show how the conflict is reshaping network planning as airlines respond to prolonged regional disruption.

Beyond fuel and routes, Doyle calls on the UK government to cut taxes affecting tourists, saying the country has fallen behind destinations such as Japan, France and Spain in making travel affordable. He argues that higher air passenger duty feeds through to ticket prices and could undermine the UK’s ambition to raise annual tourist numbers to 50 million from about 40 million.

In our previous report on Europe’s electric vehicle market, we noted that rising petrol prices linked to the Iran war are strengthening the cost case for battery models, especially as cheaper city EVs enter the market. We highlighted that lower-priced launches from Renault and Chinese brands, combined with a widening running-cost gap versus petrol cars, are helping EVs take a larger share of new car sales in Europe.

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