The surging price of jet fuel isn’t the airline industry’s only problem. Now, it’s whether it will have enough.

Since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, the price of jet fuel in the U.S. has nearly doubled, going from $2.50 a gallon on Feb. 27 to $4.88 a gallon on April 2, with the increases even sharper in other regions. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz is choking off supplies of both crude and refined products like jet fuel, further driving up the price.

That’s forcing airlines to consider cutting flights, especially overseas.

Carsten Spohr, CEO of Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa, told employees in a webcast last week that the carrier is assigning teams to come up with contingency plans because of the war in the Middle East, including for drops in demand or a lack of jet fuel, a spokesman said. Those plans could include grounding some of its aircraft.

The U.S. produces a lot of jet fuel and isn’t as exposed as other regions like Europe and parts of Asia are in comparison. But aircraft fill up locally, so some U.S. airlines could face shortages on international trips.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told reporters late last month that the carrier, which has the most service to Asia among U.S. airlines, would have to cut back its flights there. He also said it’s “not impossible” that airlines collectively would have to reduce service in that region.

He noted that as the price of jet fuel goes up, it could be more acute in parts of the U.S. that aren’t as connected by pipelines.

“There’s not enough refining capacity, and so fuel price prior to this and going forward is more susceptible to supply weakness on the West Coast than anywhere else in the country,” he said.

Kirby told employees earlier in March that the airline is preparing for oil to stay above $100 a barrel through 2027 and is pruning some of its flights in the near term.

“To be clear, nothing changes about our longer-term plans for aircraft deliveries or total capacity for 2027 and beyond, but there’s no point in burning cash in the near term on flying that just can’t absorb these fuel costs,” he said in a March 20 message to employees.

Airlines overall are pruning some flights for the coming months, though they often adjust schedules throughout the year to match demand, aircraft availability or other complications.

Domestic capacity in the second quarter for U.S. carriers is up 2.1%, down from previous plans of 2.3% growth, while total capacity is set to rise 1.1%, down from 2.4% on the week ended March 20, according to a Monday report from UBS.

“We expect more capacity cuts in the coming weeks,” UBS said.

So far, airline executives have said that travel demand is strong, but the fuel strains and price spikes are a headache for carriers and passengers alike as the peak summer travel season approaches.

Fuel is generally airlines’ biggest expense after labor, and carriers are already raising airfare and fees like for checked luggage to make up for the added cost.

Investors will be listening for more insights into how the jet fuel spike could affect the industry as airline earnings kick off Wednesday with Delta Air Lines. That carrier owns a refinery, so it could benefit from jet fuel sales.

Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines are raising checked bag fees by $10 for tickets, the third and fourth major U.S. carriers to increase prices as the industry grapples with a jump in jet fuel expenses this year.

“As part of an ongoing analysis of the business and against the evolving global backdrop, Southwest Airlines is increasing its fees on first and second checked bags by $10, effective on all reservations ticketed or voluntarily changed on or after April 9, 2026,” Southwest said in a statement.

Southwest Airlines ended its policy allowing all customers to check two bags for free less than a year ago.

The changes would bring the fee to check a first piece of luggage to $45, and $55 for a second bag on each airline. Delta’s changes take effect with bookings starting Wednesday and don’t apply to long-haul international travel but domestic flights and shorter flights abroad.

“These updates are part of Delta’s ongoing review of pricing across its business and reflect the impact of evolving global conditions and industry dynamics,” the airline said in a statement Tuesday.

A third bag on Delta would cost $200 to check.

Last week, United Airlines and JetBlue Airways increased their checked bag fees. Other carriers often follow such pricing moves.

Jet fuel in major U.S. cities was going for $4.69 a gallon on Monday, according to Airlines for America, citing Argus data, up nearly 88% since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. The key Strait of Hormuz shipping channel has remained effectively closed over the past month, choking off global crude and refined fuel supplies.

Delta reports first-quarter results before the market opens on Wednesday, and investors are likely to question executives on how well they are covering the surge in fuel, airlines’ biggest expense after labor. Analysts have pointed to strong demand as a salve for high fuel, but it’s not clear that carriers will be able to cover the entirety of the fuel price run-up.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday backed a two-track plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security, paving the way to fund the Transportation Security Administration in the near-term while punting debate over the agency’s more controversial immigration enforcement functions. 

The announcement amounts to a reversion back to the bill the Senate passed last week that would have funded all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. Democrats have called for changes to immigration enforcement practices before funding those sub-agencies.

Initial DHS funding for most of the department would be followed by a second measure using a Senate procedure known as budget reconciliation for ICE And CBP, the Republican leaders said Wednesday in a joint statement. Used only for spending-related measures, that process allows the Senate to approve with a simple minority, as opposed to the 60-votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

“In the coming days, Republicans in the Senate and House will be following through on the President’s directive by fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process,” Thune and Johnson said in the statement.

Congress is in the first week of a two-week recess and is not due to return until April 13. DHS has been shut down since February, after federal agents killed to U.S. citizens in Minneapolis as part of an immigration crackdown. Democrats have refused to fund the agency until changes to DHS’s immigration enforcement policies are implemented.

Thune and Johnson’s joint statement came after the House GOP revolted on Friday and killed the Senate plan.

Rather than take a vote on the Senate DHS bill that advanced early Friday morning, Johnson announced a plan to pass a stopgap spending measure that would fund all of the agency at its current levels through May 22. That continuing resolution passed 213-203, with three Democrats joining all Republicans in support.

Johnson’s strategy guaranteed the extension of the shutdown that had disrupted air travel across the country, as unpaid TSA agents called out of work and quit in large numbers, ramping up pressure on lawmakers to reach an agreement ahead of heavy travel for the Passover and Easter holidays in early April.

But Congress got some cover from President Donald Trump, who announced last week he would draw from unspent funds from the 2025 Republican tax and spending package, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to pay TSA agents. Those agents began to receive paychecks, and the lines at airport security appeared to ease this week.

Trump earlier Wednesday appeared to back a two-track approach in a post to Truth Social, calling on Congress to get bill to his desk by June 1 using the budget reconciliation process.

“(W)e are going forward to fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol through a process that doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes, and bypasses the Senate Filibuster (which should be repealed, IMMEDIATELY!), working in close conjunction with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune,” Trump posted. “We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us.”

The consensus from Republican leaders could signal the end of the partial government shutdown, but budget reconciliation can be a long and arduous process.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has said he has already begun work on reconciliation and would strive to meet the June 1 deadline.

“This bill will focus on ensuring ICE and other vital functions of homeland security, as well as the U.S. military and efforts to increase voter integrity, are Democrat-resistance proof. I will be working closely with @POTUS and his team in writing this bill,” Graham posted to X on March 26.

But Congress will have to do the hard work of deciding which GOP priorities make it into the final package. Lawmakers have floated a grab bag of proposals that extend well beyond funding for ICE and border patrol, including supplemental funds for the Iran war and a Trump-backed voter identification and noncitizen voting bill. If more things get added, it could complicate the chances of the Senate parliamentarian allowing a simple-majority vote to approve a measure.

“In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited,” Thune and Johnson wrote Wednesday.

JetBlue Airways is raising bag fees at least $4 as jet fuel prices soar amid the Iran war.

Airfare has climbed for routes around the world since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. The higher fees for checked bags are the most recent sign of airlines passing steeper fuel costs down to U.S. consumers. Jet fuel is airlines’ biggest expense after labor.

JetBlue now lists the price to check a first piece of luggage for domestic, Caribbean and Latin America flights as $39 for off-peak periods for most economy passengers, up from $35. For peak periods, like much of the summer and major holidays, the fee will go up to $49 from $40.

If paying less than 24 hours before departure, such as at the airport, travelers will pay $10 more. Airlines have charged customers less for prepaying for their checked baggage in recent years.

There are exemptions to the bag fees entirely, however, such as travelers with a co-branded credit card and frequent flyers with elite status.

“As we experience rising operating costs, we regularly evaluate how to manage those costs while keeping base fares competitive and continuing to invest in the experience our customers value,” JetBlue said in a statement to CNBC.

When an airline raises fees, competitors often follow. American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

Fuel prices for Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York averaged $4.57 a gallon last Friday, up nearly 83% since the day before the war began, according to data from Argus published by industry group Airlines for America.

“Adjusting fees for optional services used by select customers, such as checked baggage, allows us to continue offering more competitive fares while delivering the onboard experience our customers love, including complimentary snacks and drinks, unlimited, high-speed Wi-Fi and seatback entertainment screens,” JetBlue said. “While we recognize that fee increases are never ideal, we take careful consideration to ensure these changes are implemented only when necessary.” 

TOKYO/NEW YORK — Genevieve Price considers herself a great flight hacker.

The 35-year-old naturopathic doctor based in San Diego usually buys basic economy tickets when she visits her family in New Jersey and then uses her Alaska Airlines frequent flier status to pick a seat, something that’s usually not allowed for those no-frills fares.

“I like to travel a lot,” Price told CNBC at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, where she was returning from Rome.

But Price said she has her limits, and is planning to cap the spending she does on future flights, such as no more than $900 to Rome, where her partner is from.

Consumers’ willingness to fly is being put to the test this spring as soaring fuel prices are leading to higher airfares. Cathay Pacific, SAS, Finnair and others are among the carriers that have already raised fares.

Travelers also have to contend with hourslong airport security lines in the U.S. because of the second government shutdown in half a year that’s hitting the Transportation Security Administration, leaving many frustrated.

Fuel at major U.S. airports was going for $3.98 on Wednesday, up nearly 60% since before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.

The conflict has meant crisis for the aviation industry, particularly in the Middle East, where airspace closures have forced carriers to cancel flights and take longer and costlier routes.

Airlines will brief investors starting early next month on the longer-term impacts, but they immediately started raising airfare or increasing fuel surcharges on tickets to help cover the rising costs.

DHS has blamed Democrats for the closure, which has become the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history. As of Friday afternoon, the Senate had passed a potential deal to end the shutdown, thought its fate was unclear.

The Senate early Friday morning advanced a bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, in a move to end the partial government shutdown that has disrupted air travel across the U.S.

After weeks of Republicans fighting Democrats on their calls to remove funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement from any potential deal, the bill does exactly that. It would fund all of DHS except for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection, though it does not include the changes to ICE’s immigration enforcement practices that Democrats had demanded.

It now moves to the House for final approval. A vote could be held as soon as Friday as lawmakers seek to leave Washington for a scheduled recess.

“This could’ve been accomplished weeks ago if Republicans hadn’t stood in the way,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said from the Senate floor Friday. “Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump’s rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms.”

The Senate vote is an encouraging step toward ending the shutdown, which resulted in missed paychecks for Transportation Security Administration agents and long lines at airports. The deal comes just in time for lawmakers to leave town for a pre-planned two-week recess beginning at the end of this week.

Lawmakers scrambled much of the week to strike a deal before the recess, but as talks broke down late Thursday, Trump intervened and announced via Truth Social that he would pay TSA agents via executive order.

“Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country, as I always will do!,” Trump posted. “Therefore, I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports.”

The shutdown began in February in the weeks after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis as part of a federal immigration crackdown. Democrats demanded change with ICE and DHS more broadly and refused to fund the department.

Friday’s vote largely ends that impasse, though it was far from a kumbaya moment.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement that Democrats “remained intransigent and unreasonable” in their DHS funding demands.

“Congressional Democrats have done real damage to the appropriations process by repeatedly forcing government shutdowns and refusing to fund entire agencies,” Collins said. “Their refusal to fund ICE and Border Patrol leaves our borders and our country less secure and sets a precedent that they may one day come to regret.”

Republicans have vowed to restore funding to ICE via a second party-line legislative package using the Senate “budget reconciliation” procedure they used to pass last year’s tax and spending bill. Republicans’ next measure with ICE funding may also include a grab-bag of other issues, including defense funding and the SAVE America Act, a Trump-backed voter-ID and noncitizen voting bill that has captivated the right-flank of the GOP in recent months.

“This bill will focus on ensuring ICE and other vital functions of homeland security, as well as the U.S. military and efforts to increase voter integrity, are Democrat-resistance proof,” Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a post to X on Thursday.

Budget reconciliation is a procedural tool that requires only a simple majority to pass — as opposed to the 60 votes usually required to overcome a filibuster in the Senate — provided its components have some spending or revenue impact.

President Donald Trump at a cabinet meeting Thursday urged Congress to find a quick resolution to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown that’s leading to increasing headaches for air travelers.

“They need to end the shutdown immediately, or we’ll have to take some very drastic measures,” Trump said from the White House.

He didn’t describe what measures he would take or detail his role in negotiations to resume funding DHS.

The DHS shutdown has dragged on for more than a month and has disrupted air travel. Transportation Security Administration agents are going without pay and are missing work in large numbers, leading to long lines at airports and increased pressure on lawmakers to find a deal, though they appear to be at an impasse.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Thursday that Democrats were in receipt of Republicans’ “last and final offer,” according to MS NOW. Thune declined to provide details of the latest offer, but said the White House had “been involved on the back and forth that has occurred overnight.”

A group of Senate Republicans met with Trump at the White House of Monday and came out with what they heralded as a compromise proposal: funding for 94% of DHS, except for the enforcement and removal arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But Democrats — who have withheld their support for funding the agency since February, not long after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during an immigration crackdown — dismissed the proposal because it did not contain the ICE operational changes they had long sought. Those changes include requiring immigration agents to acquire judicial warrants before entering private property and banning the use of masks.

Republicans roundly rejected a Senate Democratic counteroffer on Wednesday that included some of those proposals.

In addition to extending the shutdown, the negotiations standoff raises the specter of cutting into a scheduled two-week recess that was supposed to begin at the end of this week. Thune told reporters Wednesday that it was an “open-question” whether lawmakers would be able to leave town as planned.

The White House signaled on background earlier this week that it was on board with the GOP plan to reopen DHS, but Trump has so far not publicly thrown his weight behind the proposal.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration sent ICE agents to airports to assist TSA. Trump on Wednesday suggested he may also deploy National Guard members to airports for additional help.

— Emily Wilkins contributed to this story.

President Donald Trump said he’s considering sending the National Guard to U.S. airports, two days after the administration sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to several major U.S. airports following hourslong waits for travelers because of the partial government shutdown.

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump blamed Democrats for the shutdown, which began Feb. 14.

“Thank you to our great ICE Patriots for helping. It makes a big difference,” he wrote in his post. “I may call up the National Guard for more help.”

More than 11% of TSA officers called out on Wednesday and more than 450 have quit since the shutdown started, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Elevated absences of Transportation Security Administration officers, who are required to work though they’re not getting paid during the shutdown, have contributed to long lines at major U.S. airports, including in Atlanta, Houston and New York.

DHS, which oversees both ICE and and TSA, said the ICE agents will “support airports facing the greatest strain” but the department didn’t respond to requests for comment on what the ICE agents’ duties are. ICE agents are getting paid in the shutdown.

Airlines have been warning customers about potentially long security lines, while executives grow increasingly frustrated with lawmakers about the impasse. On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines said it suspended its airport escorts and other special services for members of Congress and their staff because of the ongoing partial shutdown of the DHS.

The shutdown comes as Democrats in Congress have demanded changes to how federal immigration enforcement operates in exchange for releasing DHS funding after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by ICE officers in Minneapolis.

LOS ANGELES — United Airlines‘ formula for higher profits: fewer but better seats.

The country’s second-most profitable carrier after Delta Air Lines on Tuesday unveiled new cabin designs, including on some of its smallest planes, that feature more premium seating options and fewer in standard coach.

The differences in airfare for those seats can be vast. For example, a flight between United’s hub at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and San Francisco in the first week of May is going for $423 in standard coach and $5,556 in the carrier’s top-tier Polaris class on a Boeing 757.

Even with the spike in fuel prices, United’s executives have said in recent weeks that demand remains strong, noting that premium-travel demand has outshined the main cabin.

“The main cabin is also improving, and we’ve seen very strong demand across the board for United in Q1, but premium did lead the way yet again in the quarter, and continues to do so,” Andrew Nocella, United’s chief commercial officer, told reporters last week.

United plans to introduce a subfleet of narrow-body Airbus A321neo jets dubbed the “Coastliner” for transcontinental flights that will have 20 Polaris seats, which can recline into beds. Each Polaris seat will have aisle access.

Those jets will also have 12 premium economy seats and 36 extra-legroom seats on board, with the rest regular economy. United said it removed three seats from the plane’s standard configuration to install a snack bar at the back of the plane.

Current layouts of the plane don’t have premium economy, but they do have 57 extra-legroom seats and 123 seats in standard economy, along with 20 that are first-class recliners, not the lie-flat Polaris seats.

United said the first Coastliners will begin flying this summer and it will have 40 of them by the start of 2028.

The airline also announced its configuration for its longer-range Airbus A321XLR aircraft, which will replace some older Boeing 757s. That layout also includes the 20 Polaris suites, 12 premium economy seats and 34 in extra-legroom. The plane will debut this summer, and United said it could operate on some of its existing routes to Spain, France, Portugal and Brazil.

United will also add a seven-seat first-class cabin to its Bombardier CRJ-200 jets for a total of 41 seats on board, compared with the current 51-seat layout, which has only one cabin.

The changes are part of an ongoing trend for airlines, which are dedicating more of the scarce real estate on planes to premium seats, as the growth from those higher-end options outpaces sales from regular economy.

Last year, United unveiled an upgraded Polaris suite for long-haul flights on its Boeing 787 Dreamliners that includes the “Polaris Studio,” which is larger than previous models and has 27-inch 4K screens as well as an ottoman for guests.

United’s chief rival, Delta, has said it expects premium revenue to overtake main cabin sales this year. That carrier said last month that starting in May, the first of seven of its new Airbus A321neo jets will have 44 seats in first class, more than double the 20 it usually has.

The demand has been so high for plush new suites and other premium seats that the supply chain can’t keep up. The bottlenecks have even delayed delivery of aircraft, CNBC has reported.

Delta said the big first-class cabin on the A321neo is a medium-term measure, “intended to be in service for a limited time as Delta awaits delivery of flatbed suites that will ultimately be installed on these aircraft.” 

Meanwhile, United has been eyeing lie-flat seats for some of its newer narrow-body jets for years.

CEO Scott Kirby told reporters in August 2018 that the carrier was planning to offer lie-flat seats on new Boeing 737 Max 10 aircraft, though that plane still hasn’t been certified and is years behind schedule.

Other airlines are also adding higher-end seats.

JetBlue Airways, which was a pioneer in offering lie-flat seats and suites on its narrow-body Airbus fleet, plans to offer a less elaborate domestic first-class cabin later this year. Southwest Airlines recently debuted extra-legroom seats on its fleet of Boeing 737s, ending its decades of standard seating throughout its cabin.

Budget carriers Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines are also planning to add roomier seats.

NEW YORK — Andrew Leonard showed up at John F. Kennedy International Airport at 4:45 a.m. on Monday for his 7 a.m. flight to Seattle. Nearly two hours later, he made it through security and to his gate just in time for boarding.

“I fly out of this terminal all the time and this is insane,” said Leonard, a 34-year-old performing arts teacher in New York who was en route to Seattle ahead of a family vacation to Hawaii.

He is one of tens of thousands of travelers around the U.S. who are facing extra-long security wait times at major airport hubs such as Atlanta, New York and Houston due to elevated absences of Transportation Security Administration officers. TSA workers are facing a second missed full paycheck this week as a partial government shutdown continues.

White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday said the administration would deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports on Monday to help ease security lines amid the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

ICE agents weren’t visible at checkpoints at Kennedy airport’s Terminal 8 early Monday, and it wasn’t clear where or when agents would be deployed. DHS and TSA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.

Homan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the ICE agents will be “helping TSA move those lines along,” including by guarding exit doors to relieve TSA agents so they could screen travelers. “We’re simply there to help TSA do their jobs in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise.”

TSA’s more than 50,000 officers have been working without their regular paychecks since the partial government shutdown began in mid-February. The shutdown comes as Democrats in Congress demand changes to how federal immigration enforcement operates in exchange for releasing DHS funding after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by officers in Minneapolis. 

Hundreds of TSA officers have quit since the shutdown started, according to their union, the American Federation of Government Employees.

Members of the travel industry, including airline executives, have blasted lawmakers for failing to pay essential government workers during repeated shutdowns that have snarled travel.

In early 2019 and in late 2025, two federal government shutdowns ended shortly after travel disruptions escalated following higher-than-typical absences of air traffic controllers. Their pay isn’t affected by this impasse.

New York’s LaGuardia Airport was closed on Monday morning following a collision of an Air Canada regional jet and an emergency vehicle on Sunday night. Some passengers told CNBC they had switched to fly out of Kennedy because of the disruptions.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Monday morning after air traffic controllers evacuated the tower because of a burning smell coming from an elevator, adding to travel chaos around New York City.

— CNBC’s Garrett Downs contributed to this article.