With travel picking up, the industry now finds itself unable to hire fast enough to allow for seamless operations at its pre-pandemic levels. “They are very spontaneous.” Lack of Staff Hundreds of thousands of pilots, flight attendants, ground handlers and other aviation workers lost their jobs over the past couple of years. The so-called revenge traveler is “an individual that has been emotionally affected by the lockdowns and has craved travel over the last two years and they’ve dreamt about it,” said Hermione Joye, sector lead for travel in Asia Pacific at Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Some consumers are tapping dormant holiday budgets and upgrading to more expensive aircraft cabins for leisure trips, the International Air Transport Association’s Director General Willie Walsh said last month. Deep-Pocketed Travelers Higher ticket costs don’t seem to be dissuading people from making trips now that many travel restrictions have eased. Most of Asia’s airlines don’t hedge jet fuel, which means they are more vulnerable to price increases. Some investors believe airlines may seek to boost fuel surcharges as a way to cope, analysts at Citigroup Inc. Many US carriers have been able to cover the increased fuel costs so far - but only by passing them along to travelers in the form of higher ares. Spot jet fuel prices in New York have soared more than 80% this year, though prices vary from region to region depending on refining costs and local taxes. For some budget airlines, it can be as high as 50%. Jet fuel now represents as much as 38% of an average airline’s costs, up from 27% in the years leading to 2019. Skyrocketing Fuel Prices Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a steady rise in crude oil prices over the past 18 months. The pinch is most acute in Asia, which was the slowest to ease restrictions, and as China, the biggest market in the region, remains essentially closed. That’s particularly true for giant aircraft like Airbus SE’s A380 superjumbos and Boeing Co.’s older 747-8s, as airlines turn to more fuel-efficient models like A350s and 787 Dreamliners. Giant Jets Parked Carriers are cautious about bringing back all their idled jets, even though most countries have eased cross-border restrictions. Increasingly, travelers are booking tickets months in advance as they’re worried about the cost of buying at the last minute, said David Mann, chief economist for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at the institute. “It’s really amazing that an economy seat ticket would cost you so much.” A Mastercard Economics Institute study found the cost of flying from Singapore was on average 27% higher in April than in 2019, while flights from Australia were 20% more. That used to cost about S$2,000, she said. Her company paid S$5,000 ($3632) for a colleague’s return trip with Singapore Airlines Ltd. “Ticket prices are really expensive these days,” said Jacqueline Khoo, who works in tourism.
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