5 Fuel Shocks, 5 Very Different Endings: What History Tells Us About This One
Photo Credit: An Airbus A350-1000 being refuelled. Airbus
Skift Take
Airlines are hoping 2026 is a short, sharp fuel shock, but with supply routes at risk and fewer policy tools available, this crisis could last longer and test demand in ways recent history hasn’t.
Jet fuel prices have doubled in eight weeks. In an industry where fuel accounts for 20–30% of operating costs, that’s bad news — but price isn’t the only problem. A supply crunch may be coming next.
Officials warn that parts of Europe could run short within weeks, and the situation in some Asian countries is even more desperate. On Tuesday, the head of the International Energy Agency said the war in Iran is causing the biggest energy crisis in history.
As first-quarter earnings season gathers pace this week, airline executives are preparing to field questions from investors and analysts about how their companies are navigating the fuel storm. The instinct is to learn lessons from the past, but CEOs reaching for the history books are finding that crises often have very different endings.
To help make sense of the current turmoil, Skift examines five critical fuel shocks since the 1970s to find out how they compare to 2026.
1973: The One T
