Europe's best airline raises ticket prices by up to £360 as fuel prices soar

Jet fuel supply has been cut off by the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz (Picture: John Keeble/Getty Images Europe) Virgin Atlantic has raised ticket prices by as much as £360 as the war on Iran makes jet fuel scarce, Metro can confirm. Sir Richard Branson’s airline has added a fuel surcharge of £50 to economy-class tickets, with premium economy increasing by £180 and business class by £360. In 2025, Virgin was voted Europe’s best overall airline for the sixth consecutive year. Chief executive Corneel Koster said the failure of peace talks between the US and Iran was ‘not good news’ for the aviation industry. Nodding to unprecedentedly expensive fuel costs, he warned that passengers faced even higher prices in the coming months, and possibly for the remainder of the year. Mr Koster added: “We have never seen jet fuel at this level and airlines cannot sustain those sorts of high costs. ‘If the fuel price goes much higher, I think the surcharges may go higher. If they go up in a week and you book in two weeks’ time, you’ll be paying higher.’ Industry experts expect that demand for economy class tickets will drop in the coming months as the rising cost of everything from petrol to groceries forces people to shelve travel plans. Jet fuel prices have surged after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz when the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Tehran and several cities across the country. It’s been a difficult year for airlines and the global aviation industry (Picture: REUTERS) A fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes through the narrow waterway off Iran’s coast. Jet fuel prices have surged as much as 58.4% last week, data from the International Air Travel Association shows, reaching their highest level in four years. In March, Scandinavia’s largest airline became the first major carrier in Europe to scrap flights because of surging fuel prices. Ongoing shifts in the price of oil pose immediate consequences for airlines and passengers, both in terms of whether their plans will get off the ground — and whether they’ll be able to afford them, if they do. And for ordinary travellers, there’s very little we can do. That’s according to Marina Efthymiou, Professor of Aviation Management at Dublin City University. ‘The increase in fuel cost is going to be passed on to the passenger, that’s not in question,’ she told Metro. ‘But the extent to which it is passed on depends on the market and how much the airline has hedged against fuel price increases.’ WIN a relaxing countryside getaway for two Need a bit of R&R? We're giving you the chance to win a restorative break for two at Albion Aberteifi, a top-rated hotel in the beautiful coastal town of Cardigan, Wales. The two-night stay includes Scandi-style breakfast, cocktails for two at the hotel bar, and a Nature Spa experience at nearby wellness retreat Fforest Farm, for two hours of basking in cedar saunas and wood-fired hot tubs. Blissful. Wish you were here? Enter now below (Picture: Brook Aurora) For your chance to win this gorgeous spring getaway, enter your details into the form before midnight on Sunday, April 19. And don't forget to sign up to The Getaway Expert, our seven-day guide to becoming a more confident traveller. Click here to enter Full T&Cs apply, see here. Fuel typically makes up 20-40% of airlines’ total operating costs. Many airlines secure supplies at fixed or capped prices, months – and even years – in advance. This process is known as hedging. It’s a risk management strategy that protects businesses from volatile prices. Among those known to do so are British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and Ryanair. But even with hedging, prices are climbing. Fast. Alongside Virgin, carriers including Qantas, SAS, and Air New Zealand have already announced ticket hikes. United Airlines and Cathay Pacific have also done so in recent days. SAS, the flag carrier for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, said it will scale back flights in response to the ‘sharp and sudden increase’ in fuel costs. The Stockholm-based company said the cancellations amount to hundreds of flights in a single week, although most of the services scrapped were on short routes within Scandinavia where alternative connections are available. Airports in Europe are now warning that we should expect fuel shortages at some major hubs in about three weeks, driving fears of mass cancellations. May half-term holidays and summer getaways could be ruined. In a letter to the EU’s transport commissioner, ACI Europe, the lobby group for airports in Europe, warned that jet fuel shortages threatened to ‘severely disrupt’ operations. It said: ‘If the passage through the Strait of Hormuz does not resume in any significant and stable way within the next three weeks, systemic jet fuel shortage is set to become a reality.’