Though jet fuel prices have fallen more than 40 percent from February, American consumers aren’t feeling much relief from airfare prices that jumped because of costs connected to the U.S.- Iran war.
Airfares booked from the last week of June through the end of August are 15 percent higher than they were in 2025, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing figures from airfare tracker Going. Through March 30, the average price of a domestic ticket in the United States was $428 – $19 higher than the average at the end of 2025, and the second-highest average fare since September 2022, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Demand has kept prices high, as airlines typically won’t lower their prices if passengers are willing to pay higher ones, said Atmosphere Research Group Airline Industry Analyst Henry Harteveldt.
“The house always wins,” Harteveldt told Bloomberg. “If the marketplace isn’t demanding that an airline reduces its fares to the very lowest levels it was charging before, airlines aren’t going to lower those fares.”
The Iran war doubled jet fuel prices in just over a month – a gallon was $2.42 on February 26, then $4.88 by April 2, according to data from airline industry trade association Airlines for America.
open image in galleryThe spike cost Delta a projected $2 billion from April to June, the company told CNBC on April 8, just after fuel prices peaked at nearly $5.
As oil prices fell and peace talks emerged, jet fuel prices droppe to $2.76 by June 22 before climbing to $2.91 by June 25. The drastic decline is due to a pair of factors, Bloomberg noted: refineries producing more jet fuel and oil prices declining.
As jet fuel prices soared in March and April, airlines scrambled to recoup their unexpected fuel costs. United Airlines raised its ticket prices by 15 to 20 percent in March, and Delta announced in April it was raising its checked bag fees by $10, PBS reported.
Travelers aren’t the only ones frustrated by the Iran war’s impact on oil and fuel prices – President Donald Trump isn’t happy, either.
open image in galleryHe took to Truth Social on Thursday to accuse the oil industry of price gouging, ending his post by saying the Department of Justice will investigate the situation.
“I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this,” Trump wrote. “Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!”
Delta CEO Ed Bastian seemed to blame the air traffic control system across the country for sticky ticket prices.
“Prices will come down when we can fly more, when there’s more supply,” he said in aTuesday interview with Fox Business. “…There’s not a lot of supply we can bring in because the air traffic control system is congested. As you open up the skies, and you bring more flow, that’s going to help bring pricing down and enable us to bring more people to more places.”