The International Air Transport Association

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The cost of your next flight is likely to go up Expect the cost of your airfare to keep rising, according to members of the International Air Transport Association, which held its annual meeting Monday. While carriers recover from the groundings worldwide from the coronavirus pandemic, industry leaders told journalists that there are several costs likely to push those ticket prices ever higher. Read more.

Why this matters: That warning comes as the IATA estimates that globally, airline revenue will reach nearly $1 trillion in 2024, a record high. There will be 4.96 billion travelers on airplanes this year, with total expenses for carriers reaching $936 billion – another record high. Industry profits also are expected to be nearly $60 billion this year.   Part of the reason is worldwide inflation, an ongoing problem since the pandemic started, which has also left a hangover in aircraft production. Jet fuel costs, roughly a third of all airline expenses, remain high. Meanwhile, a global push for decarbonization has more carriers fighting for limited amounts of so-called sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, available in the market.   But with the growth of airlines and the consolidation of carriers, cost savings have quietly been passed onto consumers now able to book flights across the world, Tim Clark, the Emirates airline’s president contended. “I think the value-for-money proposition that the consumers have had the benefit from for many decades is something that is one of those hidden bits of the narrative,” he said.

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