Get ready for higher holiday airfares as airlines cut flights over high fuel costs

Airlines executives said demand was strong for December but that they could cut more flights due to high fuel costs.

Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg/Getty Images Airlines are cutting flights over the holidays due to high fuel costs.

Executives said there could be further cuts and higher prices if fuel prices remain high.

The price of oil surged past $100 a barrel this month.

If you haven't booked your holiday flights yet, you may want to brace your wallet: Airlines are cutting options and potentially raising fares as oil prices reach new highs.

After surging in the spring following the start of the war in Iran, oil prices surged yet again this summer and surpassed $100 a barrel this month; jet fuel is $4.53 a gallon as of Thursday.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest consumer price index show airfares rose more than 23% year-over-year in August.

Speaking at Morgan Stanley's Laguna Conference on Wednesday, major airline executives said they are cutting flights planned this holiday season and are likely to raise fares to offset oil spikes.

Mike Leskinen, CFO of United Airlines , said the company is seeing strong demand and that its customers are "incredibly, incredibly resilient," but United has already cut some routes that are on the low end of profitability and "don't make sense in a higher fuel environment." "As you look into the fourth quarter, there'll be some flights in December that we won't fly that we thought we were going to fly," Leskinen said.

"If fuel remains high, we'll make some adjustments into the first quarter and beyond into 2027." Southwest Airlines CFO Tom Doxey and American Airlines CFO Devon May similarly said demand is strong and that if high fuel prices persist, they would trim capacity and raise fares in response.

However, the airline CFOs said it takes time for those increases to show up: "Jet fuel price gets passed through with a lag," Leskinen said.

"Period." Doxey said that "both from the booking curve and just kind of a natural lag, it takes a while for that to come," but Southwest has the "ability to recover a good portion" of those added costs.

Sally French, a travel analyst at NerdWallet, said that, beyond high airfares, airlines have also increased checked-bag and seat-selection fees.

"The true cost of flying is higher than ever," she said.