AIRLINE officials will meet to consider taking possible "concerted action" to counter a 10 per cent fuel cost rise, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said yesterday.
The talks among IATA's 250 member airlines, including most of those flying into Irish airports, take place against the background of what an IATA spokesman described as "creeping crisis".
The airline industry is among the first to feel the pinch of crude oil prices that are running at five-year highs and have rung alarm bells among consumers and prompted fears of new inflationary pressures.
At just under $24 (£15) a barrel, the price of world benchmark Brent crude oil is running about $6 a barrel above 1995 prices and at levels unseen since the height of the Gulf War crisis five years ago.
For the airlines, it has translated into 73.9 cents per US gallon average worldwide during the first nine months of this year, against 65.2 cents average in 1995.
The IATA meeting, set for November 13th in Geneva, officially known as a "tariff co-ordinating conference", will bring together senior tariff officials who could decide on increases in passenger fares and cargo rates, according to IATA spokesman Mr Tim Goodyear.
The airlines could elect to absorb the added fuel expense - but it would be at the cost of investing in badly-needed new aircraft, he added.
"They will consider the need for concerted action to counter the increase in the fuel cost burden," Mr Goodyear said.
"We don't know what they will decide. They could do nothing or could pass on an increase in fares and rates," he added.
"Fuel costs have been going up pretty steadily this year," Mr Goodyear said. "This is not sudden. It is a creeping crisis."
IATA members posted $5.2 billion profit last year, or some 4 per cent profit on operating revenues of some $ 120 billion, he said.
