The supply shortage has seen the price of aviation fuel hit all-time highs: According to the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, jet fuel costs reached $4.82 billion in April 2022, up more than 15% from March and a whopping 58% from April 2019.įor domestic flights, the agency said, the cost per gallon has shot up 103% from April 2021. Refinery shutdowns mean more than a million barrels a day, or about 5% of the total US aviation fuel capacity, has been lost since the beginning of the pandemic, Bloomberg reported, with no concrete plans to bring capacity back up.Īviation fuel costs have hit record highs. The cost of jet fuel has soaredĪ shortage of jet fuel has also led to cancellations and delays. Southwest Airlines has nixed almost 20,000 summer flights. "Most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren't enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years," United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said during a quarterly earnings call back in April, NBC News reportedĭelta said it has canceled 100 scheduled daily flights in the US and Latin America between July 1 and Aug.
It's particularly acute with pilots because it can take up to five years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to train someone to fly a commercial airplane. It's a remarkable growth period and they're just back-footed." "They did a lot of buyouts during the pandemic. The shortages extend to ground staff, baggage handlers, gate personnel and other workers, FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs told CNET. Now carriers are clamoring to staff back up, but they're finding it hard to fill positions.
As a result, from December 2019 to December 2020, the number of airline workers shrunk by at least 114,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.