The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Rival airline operators yesterday said it is “almost automatic” that ticket prices will increase to partially offset soaring fuel costs after Bahamasair revealed its fares have risen.

Anthony Hamilton, Southern Air’s director of administration, and president of the Bahamas Association of Air Transport Operators, told Tribune Business there was very little the industry can to about rising costs that are outside its control.

“Fuel is a major component of the service that’s provided, and the rise in fuel prices definitely has an immediate impact,” he added. “Safety is a primary function of the industry, and this simply means operational costs are going to increase. The most likely experience for the customer is going to be price increases.

“This is a supply and demand situation, and as long as the market is demanding service then the service is going to be delivered.”

Mr Hamilton spoke after Tracy Cooper, Bahamasair’s managing director, told Tribune Business that the national flag carrier had increased ticket prices for all domestic travel by $3, and on international routes by $10, to partially counteract rising fuel prices.

This was in response to aviation fuel increasing by $1.50 per gallon in just seven weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With Bahamasair consuming between 90,000 and 95,000 gallons of fuel per week, its weekly fuel bill has risen by between $134,000 and $142,500.

Faron Sawyer, president of Cherokee Air, yesterday said he can only increase air fares by so much as his customers do not earn sufficient income to absorb the fuel cost pass-through.

He added: “This rise in fuel is impacting us big time, because we can’t go up on the price that much to try and compensate, so this is causing our business license to go more and your bottom line flat, and you are not making as much money.

“With our clientele, we don’t fly that many wealthy people, so we have just tried to be mindful of our clients’ situations. We had gone up a little bit, but not to the point where they say they can’t afford to travel any more.”

Despite these fuel price hikes, there will be no flight cancellations. Mr Sawyer said: “We’re just hoping that oil prices stabilize, and we’re monitoring it, but with oil going up the way it is it is affecting the price of everything else.”