Name: Airline shares battered as Iran war intensifies
Uploaded: 2026-03-09T17:12:52.000Z
Duration: 1 min 39 s
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Airfares soared on Monday as the U S. Israeli war with Iran sent oil prices surging.

And airline stocks took a battering, too, as fears of a deep travel slump and the potential for the widespread grounding of planes.

Oil prices were trading more than 15% higher at levels not seen since 2022.

That piles pressure on carriers already navigating tight airspace as travelers scrambled to evade the Middle East.

In Asia, airlines bearing the brunt of investor fears included Korean airlines, which tumbled 8.6%, and

Underscoring that pain on the consumer side were jumps in ticket prices.

Direct flights from Seoul to London on March 11 with Korean Airlines leapt to $4,359.

That's up from $564 seven days earlier, according to Google Flights data.

Analysts say the impact of high airfares could limit travel demand for much of the year.

Fuel is the second largest expense for air carriers, after labor.

It typically accounts for a fifth to a quarter of operating expenses.

Some major Asian and European airlines have oil hedging in place, but

US Airlines largely stopped the practice over the last two decades.

Data shows that since February 28, more than 37,000 flights to and from the Middle east have been cancelled.

With airspace severely constrained, airlines have been forced to reroute flights, carry extra fuel or make additional refueling stops.