Europe’s airfares will see their “biggest increase in history” next year, Ryanair’s boss warned Tuesday, as a global fuel squeeze puts pressure on a commercial aviation industry that’s so far proven resilient to supply shocks.
Ticket prices could jump as much as 20%, Michael O’Leary predicted, with industry consolidation leading to fewer seats overall. Still, tourism has held up even as costs have climbed, partly owing to airlines securing their 2026 fuel supplies at a fixed price, a travel executive told The Guardian: “But airlines are going to be less and less hedged [going forward] and prices are going to go up.”
The timing is bad for European holidaymakers, ahead of the summer’s expected extreme temperatures from a historic El Niño.