Shrinking airline options. Dwindling benefits for average travelers. International conflict driving higher fuel, and therefore airfare, prices. And the busy summer travel season hasn’t even officially begun. Is it a good time to be traveling by air? While some experts say no, others describe the circumstances as more nuanced. “I think it’s going to get worse this summer,” said John Kwoka, Neal F. Finnegan distinguished professor of economics at Northeastern University. Summer travel costs increase as the season goes on, he said, but “the escalation will be steeper this year” because the ongoing conflict in Iran is affecting jet fuel prices.“You tell me how the war is going to go, and I’ll give you my prediction,” Kwoka said.
The airline industry has been “in a relatively stable equilibrium” over the past few years, Kwoka said. But recent events threaten to disturb that, he said. Spirit Airlines shuttered on May 2, leaving consumers with one less carrier from which to choose. Several issues contributed to Spirit’s downfall, but surging fuel prices from the U.S.-Israel campaign in Iran that began Feb. 28 gave the airliner no choice but to end operations, its lawyers said.
