Thomas Black, Columnist

Oil Prices Are Leaving Airlines With Nowhere to Hide

March 11, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC

Corrected

March 11, 2026 at 1:59 PM UTC

Thomas Black is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the industrial and transportation sectors. He was previously a Bloomberg News reporter covering logistics, manufacturing and private aviation.

US airlines have mostly abandoned hedges on oil and jet fuel.
Photographer: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

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US airlines were hoping for smooth flying this year after the disruption from President Donald Trump’s tariffs clipped earnings in 2025.

This year’s disruption — less than two weeks into the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran — has the potential to be even worse if oil prices remain near $100 a barrel for an extended period. Jet fuel, the second-largest expense for airlines behind labor, already jumped to as much as $4.11 a gallon in New York on March 5 from a low of $1.92 last May.