Executives from American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines said Wednesday that higher jet fuel prices are prompting carriers to adjust capacity and closely monitor flight schedules.
The global average jet fuel price rose 6.1% week over week to $181.46 per barrel last week, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Speaking at Morgan Stanley’s 14th Annual Laguna Conference, American Airlines Chief Financial Officer Devon May said fourth-quarter jet fuel prices are running about $1 per gallon above what the airline projected in July, adding roughly $1 billion to its fuel bill.
“Overall for the third quarter, we feel great,” May said. “What’s happened in the last four weeks, though, is fuel’s run up probably $1 a gallon or something like that for the fourth quarter alone.”
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May said American will continue adjusting capacity later in the fourth quarter in response to higher fuel costs.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the airline still expects third-quarter revenue to rise 16% to 19% from a year earlier, citing strength across domestic and international markets as well as both premium and economy cabins, according to Reuters.
“When you take into account fuel right now, yes, we’ve absolutely done a great job of recapturing a tremendous amount of that expense,” Isom said.
United Airlines Chief Financial Officer Michael Leskinen said some flights planned for December will no longer operate because of higher fuel prices.
“As you look into the fourth quarter, there’ll be some flights in December that we won’t fly that we thought we were going to fly,” he said at the Morgan Stanley conference. “If fuel remains high, we’ll make some adjustments into the first quarter and beyond into 2027.”
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Leskinen also described United’s fourth-quarter bookings as “tremendously strong,” saying premium travel, corporate demand and economy bookings have all remained resilient.
“Bookings have continued as we expected, so that piece of the equation is resilient — very little evidence of demand destruction,” Leskinen said.
At the conference, Southwest Airlines Chief Financial Officer Tom Doxey said the carrier has already pared back about half of the modest year-over-year capacity growth it had planned at the start of 2026.
“If fuel is higher for longer,” Doxey said, that trimming capacity would be the “natural response.”
However, a spokesperson for the airline told FOX Business the schedule adjustments made so far have been minimal and that Doxey was making an “illustrative point” about trimming capacity and was “not alluding to an action we’ve taken.”
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Doxey added that stronger-than-expected fall bookings have helped offset higher fuel costs, allowing Southwest to maintain its third-quarter earnings guidance, according to Reuters.
Spokespersons for American Airlines and United Airlines told FOX Business the carriers had nothing further to add.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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