Rising oil prices tied to the Iran conflict are feeding directly into airline operating costs, with jet fuel prices climbing sharply enough to prompt carriers to announce both fare increases and flight cancellations, according to reporting from Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal reports that airfares on some routes have already doubled, with the sticker shock arriving just as spring travel bookings typically accelerate. The timing is particularly damaging for carriers that had been operating in a robust demand environment following years of post-pandemic recovery.

The pressure extends beyond passenger aviation. The New York Times notes that rising fuel costs are simultaneously squeezing truckers, broadening the inflationary impact of the oil spike across the transport sector.

For airlines, fuel typically represents 20 to 30 percent of operating costs, making sustained crude price increases difficult to absorb without passing them to customers. The combination of higher per-seat costs and potential demand destruction from sticker shock creates a difficult balance for revenue management teams heading into the highest-margin quarter of the year.

Bloomberg has flagged a wider risk to the aerospace sector, suggesting the oil spike threatens to curtail what it described as a golden age for the industry. Airlines had benefited from strong pricing power and recovering load factors since 2023; a prolonged fuel shock would erode both.

Whether carriers can sustain fare increases will depend largely on how long the conflict disrupts oil supply and whether leisure demand proves elastic at current price levels. CNN is advising travellers to consider booking decisions carefully given ongoing uncertainty.