Emirates airline says well hedged on jet fuel, working to contain ticket prices

[DUBAI/LONDON] Emirates is well hedged against higher jet fuel prices and is trying to avoid passing rising costs on to customers, a senior executive told Reuters on Tuesday (Sep 15), as airlines grapple with the impact of the Iran war on fuel markets.

“I would say we’re half protected and half open to the market in terms of the position,” the airline’s deputy president and chief commercial officer Adnan Kazim said in an interview.

“Today we are holding back the prices as much as we can under the current high cost of operation,” he added.

The Iran war disrupted travel earlier this year, driving up fuel prices and causing flight delays, cancellations and diversions across the Middle East and beyond.

The region supplies much of the world’s jet fuel, but its production and exports have been hit by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz shipping route and attacks on energy infrastructure.

Brent crude approached US$110 a barrel on Monday.

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“We’re trying to manoeuvre as much as we can, and you cannot take the prices up because we will displace traffic,” Kazim said.

Emirates said in May it was well hedged on fuel until 2028-29 and had secured sufficient supplies to support current operations and a return to pre-disruption capacity. REUTERS