On the day that British Airways’ parent company IAG said it is “making some pricing adjustments to reflect higher fuel costs”, Jet2 has ruled out surcharging holidaymakers.
Meanwhile the boss of Brittany Ferries has hit out at transport companies that have not “hedged” their fuel requirements. This practice involves locking into a specific rate months in advance – protecting against a price surge.
Jet2 has actually removed the surcharge provision in its terms, even though the company has never previously applied them.
Steve Heapy, chief executive of Britain’s biggest holiday company, said: “Holidaymakers should have every right to book their hard-earned break in the sun, without worrying about being hit with additional costs, and they can have that complete assurance when they book a flight or holiday with Jet2.
“As a result of today’s announcement, customers booking with Jet2 know that they are locking in their price without additional cost surprises later and we strongly believe that is the right thing to do by them.”
The firm has hedged much of its fuel needs. Many travel firms hedged at around $70 per barrel. The current price of oil is around 50 per cent higher – with aviation fuel costing roughly twice as much as it did before the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and subsequent reprisals.
Speaking to The Independent’s daily travel podcast, Brittany Ferries chief executive Christophe Mathieu said: “We’ve brought forward our fuel. And therefore we don’t have any uncertainty going forward. So therefore we don’t need to surcharge because we know what we’re going to pay our fuel for the next months.
“When you hedge, you take a gamble. If the barrel had gone down to $40, we would still pay $70.”
The ferry CEO said: “I’m quite surprised to hear so many companies in our sector, transport sectors, come up with uncertainty about fuel prices. I would have thought that most of them had hedged.
“What’s really bizarre at the moment is some companies, some airlines especially, are actually cancelling flights. They’d rather not provide the service people bought from them because they presumably have done their math and they don’t want to run a flight at a loss.”
Mr Mathieu said he had been “reassured” by the firm’s fuel supplier that there would not be a shortage. He said bookings for summer were lower than last year because “a lot of people are worried”.
But the Brittany Ferries CEO said: “There’s no reason not to go on holiday, especially to destinations like France or Spain, which are nearby, beautiful destinations
“With us, you don’t have to worry about the price. You don’t have to worry about being cancelled at the last minute. We’re really committed to run at the price we charge today.”
Separately a spokesperson for IAG – which owns British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia of Spain – said: “We are not seeing jet fuel supply interruptions, but fuel prices have risen sharply and, despite our hedging strategy which gives some shorter term mitigation, we are not immune to the impact.
“Like other carriers, IAG airlines are making some pricing adjustments to reflect these higher fuel costs.”
Read more: ‘I’ve just found £44 return flights for summer 2026 – so why are travellers still holding back?’
