IATA chief says Middle East conflict will leave ‘no winners’

BRUSSELS - The widening conflict in the Middle East will push up airline ticket prices and leave "no winners," Willie Walsh, head of the International Air ​Transport Association (IATA) told Reuters on the sidelines of an ​airline event in Brussels on Thursday.

The comments come as ⁠attacks on oil facilities in the Gulf have pushed ​crude prices up over $100 a barrel, rattling the aviation market, ​while missile and drone threats have snarled airline traffic to normally busy Middle Eastern transport hubs.

"There's no winners in this. It's going to ​impact on everybody. There's jet fuel produced the Middle East ​that goes into North America, there's jet fuel that goes into Asia," ‌Walsh ⁠said.

Walsh, in an exclusive interview, said global demand remained robust for now, but airlines could cut capacity if the conflict drags on and leads to shortages of jet fuel supply.

Still, ​he said ​airlines were taking ⁠deliveries of more fuel-efficient jets as planned.

"I don't know of anybody who's now looking at ​delaying delivery or slowing down delivery," he ​said.

In the ⁠worst-case scenario, Walsh said the industry will have to reassess if the conflict drags on.

"That will be a structural shift. ⁠We'll have ​to look at, you know, how ​the industry redistributes capacity, how we would protect ourselves against fuel supply issues."