Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

Flights will be more expensive, says IATA's Willie Walsh

Flights will be more expensive, says IATA's Willie Walsh

The price of airline tickets will go up "without doubt" as fuel costs rise, an air industry boss has warned.

Oil prices have jumped as economies recover from the Covid pandemic and due to the war in Ukraine.

These costs will be passed on to consumers, Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said.

The ex-British Airways boss also said Heathrow Airport "should have prepared better" to avoid recent disruption.

But Heathrow said Mr Walsh's comments were "ill-informed".

Holidaymakers need to be prepared for the cost of flights to go up, Mr Walsh told the BBC Sunday Morning programme.

"Flying will be more expensive for consumers, without doubt", he said, adding that the "high price of oil" will be "reflected in higher ticket prices".

Oil prices were already rising as demand picked up again in economies that had started recovering from the Covid pandemic.

The fallout from the war in Ukraine has pushed prices up further. The US has announced a complete ban on oil imports from Russia, with the UK is to phase out Russian supplies by the end of the year.

European Union leaders have said they will block most Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.

This means demand for oil from other producers has increased, leading to higher prices.

Mr Walsh said fuel prices were at record highs, and that "oil is the single biggest element of an airline's cost base".

"It's inevitable that ultimately the high oil prices will be passed through to consumers in higher ticket prices."


Travel woes


Alongside ticket price rises, UK airline passengers have had to deal with flight cancellations amid major disruption at some airports, including at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester.

Mr Walsh said passengers whose flights are cancelled may not have to pay more to rebook.

Willie Walsh headed up BA's parent company IAG before becoming the boss of IATA


But he said airports which "cannot cope" should adjust their schedules now, "so that they can accommodate as many people as possible".

He singled out Heathrow in particular which has had problems recently with aircraft fuelling and its baggage system.

"Heathrow definitely should have prepared better," Mr Walsh said.

"They were arguing that airlines should be operating at least 80% of their slots through the summer period.

"They clearly did not provide sufficient resources to deal with that level of activity, so you would have to be critical of Heathrow."

Mr Walsh admitted that many of the issues affecting airlines and airports were caused by staffing problems, but said he had "no regrets" about making deep cuts to British Airways' headcount during the pandemic, when he was the boss of the airline.

Heathrow Airport hit back at Mr Walsh's comments on Sunday.

"Aviation is under considerable pressure as demand ramps up - at Heathrow we've faced 40 years of growth in just four months - and what we need is collaborative working and investment in services to protect passengers, not ill-informed comments from retired airline bosses seeking to justify their own bonuses," said a Heathrow spokesperson.

"Unlike Mr Walsh, our overriding concern is not a blame game or abdication of responsibility, but what is in passengers' best interest."

The spokesperson added that Heathrow had requested that airlines "limit demand in line with capacity and this has enabled the vast majority of travellers to get away smoothly in recent months".

"The most significant risk to travel remains airspace constraints across Europe and a lack of airline ground handling staff.

"We will work closely with all our airport partners and take action where needed, to ensure we can give passengers the safe and reliable journey they deserve this summer," the spokesperson said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×