The recovery of the airline industry is stronger than expected, said IATA Director General Willie Walsh In an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest, discussing soaring demand, high oil prices and continuing airport chaos.

Walsh and Quest spoke at Iata’s Annual General Meeting & World Air Transport Summit in Doha, Qatar, on CNN’s Quest Means Business, where industry leaders gathered to discuss the complex challenges facing the aviation sector.

Walsh told Quest that the key problem will be rising oil prices. “The number one challenge that airlines will face will be the price of oil. We have seen a significant spike this year,” he said.

He continued: “Good news, airlines are somewhat cushioned from that, they do have some hedging in place, which will soften the blow in 2022, and to some degree in 2023. But ultimately that price is going to impact on airlines and it is going to impact on consumers.”

With rising oil prices coming right after the pandemic, Walsh said that it’s “inevitable” that the price increase will be passed onto customers. “Airlines will have no choice but to reflect the higher oil price in ticket prices,” he noted. – TradeArabia News Service