The final piece of the puzzle in the aviation industry's post-pandemic recovery is about to fall into place. Millions of Chinese have started flying again – both domestically and internationally.
For the rest of the world, this poses a major risk of sharply increased ticket prices for air travel.
Demand for jet fuel is expected to rise sharply in the near future, towards the highest levels since before the pandemic in a year or so.
Stock levels at major jet fuel depots in Singapore and Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp are already below normal levels for the season following a series of refinery problems and increased diesel production – which competes for the same facilities used for jet fuel production.
The price of jet fuel has risen to over $116 per barrel in August trading in Singapore, a 30 percent increase from the beginning of July.
The price increase is assumed to depress the unusually high profitability in the airline industry, but is also expected to push up ticket prices.
According to consulting firm Rystad Energy, demand for jet fuel is expected to increase to 7.2 million barrels per day in the third quarter of this year. The upward trend is then expected to continue towards 8.1 million barrels per day in a year – which is on par with what it looked like before the pandemic at the end of 2019.
Source: TT-DI.SE
