Air fares are set to soar just in time for the holiday season, as jet fuel pries rise to pre-pandemic levels, the United Airlines CEO warned on Wednesday.
Jet fuel prices are already up more than 100 percent compared to just one year ago, CNBC reports, with the price per gallon set at $2.3282 on Tuesday.
But Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines, said that the prices may go up even further. He forecasted an average fuel cost of $2.39 a gallon in the fourth quarter of the year, as United expects a surge in bookings for the holiday season.
'You know I think in the longer term, it's always been the case at an airline that jet fuel prices go up, usually because demand is strong - and that's going to be true again,' Kirby told the hosts of CNBC's Squawk on the Street on Wednesday.
'Higher jet fuel prices lead to higher ticket prices,' he said. 'Ultimately, we'll pass that through.'
United's competitor, Delta Airlines, last week warned that more expensive fuel would eat at its bottom line by the end of the year.
But United was able to post a $473 million profit for the third quarter, which ended at the end of September, thanks to $1.1 billion it received in federal aid.
Company executives said they expect its 2022 costs - excluding the price of fuel - to be lower than 2019, before the government instituted pandemic-related travel restrictions.
Kirby's warnings come just over a week after Southwest had to cancel hundreds of its flights, leaving passengers stranded.
Many had blamed a staff walkout to protest the vaccine mandate for the cancelations, but airline officials insisted the problems were 'created by weather and other external constraints, which left aircraft and Crews out of pre-planned positions to operate our schedule.'
Southwest Airlines President Mike Van de Ven also told workers the airline was working to develop a plan to address several shortcomings, including tight staffing on weekends as well as chronic delays and cancellations, according to The Wall Street Journal.
'We are still not where we want to be with staffing, and in particular with our flight crews,' he said in a video message to his company. 'We simply need more staffing cushion for the unexpected in this environment and we are bringing new people onboard every day.'
He added that Southwest 'already made significant reductions from our previously published November and December schedules, and if we think we need to do more, we will.
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