IATA AGM Opens in Rio as Jet Fuel Tops $140/Barrel
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- IATA convenes its annual AGM in Rio de Janeiro this weekend, with jet fuel prices still above $140 a barrel—up from roughly $80 at the Delhi summit last year—after sliding from a recent peak.
- Cirium data shows jet fuel accounts for about a quarter of global airlines' costs in 2025, with every $1-per-barrel increase adding roughly $3bn to the industry's annual fuel bill; about 6% of available seats were removed from airline schedules worldwide in the last month.
- EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas told Reuters on Friday there is currently no jet fuel shortage in Europe, while new kerosene sources in the US and West Africa have been found to ease supply.
- EasyJet has suspended fuel hedging due to price volatility—CEO Kenton Jarvis said costs "bump up and down depending on what [Donald] Trump has for breakfast"—and is now the target of a takeover bid from US private equity firm Castlelake.
- Emirates will be an unusually quiet presence in Rio, with its CEO absent, after Gulf carriers saw operations completely grounded in the Middle East when war broke out in late February.
- IATA Director General Willie Walsh, who is departing to lead India's budget carrier Indigo, has shifted his criticism from airlines to governments over stalled sustainable aviation fuel mandates.
Why it matters: Airlines have so far absorbed a near-doubling of jet fuel prices in a year by drawing on hedges, new supply chains, and schedule cuts, but the easyJet takeover bid and Walsh's exit to Indigo show that smaller and emerging carriers are now the industry's pressure points as a prolonged conflict keeps fuel above $140 a barrel.
