As fuel prices rise, an airline industry executive has predicted that the cost of flight tickets will “without a doubt” increase.

As countries recover from the Covid epidemic and as a result of the crisis in Ukraine, oil prices have increased.

Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), stated that these expenses will be passed along to customers.

Heathrow Airport “could have planned better,” according to the former British Airways CEO, to prevent the latest delays.

Heathrow, though, said that Mr. Walsh’s remarks were “ill-informed.”

Mr. Walsh advised travelers to plan for rising airline prices on the BBC Sunday Morning show.

Without a doubt, the cost of flying will increase for customers, he continued, adding that the “high price of oil” will be “reflected in increased ticket costs.”

As demand increased once again in nations that had begun to recover from the Covid epidemic, oil prices were already on the rise.

The effects of the conflict in Ukraine have increased costs even further. The UK will gradually stop importing Russian oil by the end of the year, while the US has imposed a total embargo on Russian oil imports.

By the end of 2022, most imports of Russian oil will be prohibited, according to leaders of the European Union.

This indicates that there is a greater need for oil from other sources, which raises the price.

Fuel costs, according to Mr. Walsh, are at all-time highs, and “oil is the single greatest aspect of an airline’s cost base.”

“It’s certain that the high cost of oil will eventually be passed on to customers in the form of increased ticket prices.”

Along with increased ticket prices, travelers on UK airlines have experienced flight cancellations due to significant disruption at various airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester.

According to Mr. Walsh, travelers whose flights are canceled might not be charged extra to rebook.

However, he advised “cant cope” airports to change their plans immediately “so that they can accommodate as many people as possible.”

He singled out Heathrow in particular because of recent issues with its baggage system and plane fueling.

Heathrow should have done more planning, according to Mr. Walsh.

“They argued that throughout the summer, airlines should be using at least 80% of their available slots.

“You would have to criticize Heathrow since they definitely did not give enough resources to handle that amount of activity.”

Although Mr. Walsh acknowledged that personnel concerns contributed to many of the challenges facing airports and airlines, he said that he had “no regrets” about implementing significant headcount reductions at British Airways during the epidemic while serving as the airline’s CEO.

On Sunday, Heathrow Airport responded to Mr. Walsh’s remarks.

A Heathrow spokesperson said, “Aviation is under significant pressure as demand increases – at Heathrow we’ve faced 40 years of growth in just four months – and what we need is collaborative working and investment in services to protect passengers, not ill-informed comments from retired airline bosses seeking to justify their own bonuses.”

Unlike Mr. Walsh, we are more interested in what is best for the passengers than in playing the victim or avoiding accountability.

According to the spokesman, airlines were instructed by Heathrow to “restrict demand in accordance with capacity, which has enabled the great majority of travelers to fly without incident in recent months.”

The paucity of airline ground employees and airspace restrictions in Europe continue to pose the biggest risks to travel.

This summer, the spokesman promised, “We will work closely with all of our airport partners and take action when necessary to ensure that we can provide customers the safe and dependable travel they deserve.”