by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:15 PM ET, Wed April 8, 2026
International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General
Willie Walsh said that the ceasefire between the United States and Iran was “unlikely
to provide immediate relief to the global aviation industry.”
According to Reuters.com,
Walsh said on Wednesday that it would take “months” for aviation fuel prices to
return to normal, even if Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz, due to the
ongoing disruptions to Middle East oil refining capacity.
Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted fuel
supplies for planes, but oil prices have dropped after United States President
Donald Trump said he agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran.
Walsh believes oil prices will come down, but the war’s
impact on refineries will disproportionally affect jet fuel.
When asked about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,
Walsh told Reuters, “If it were to reopen and remain open, I think it will
still take a period of months to get back to where supply needs to be given the
disruption to the refining capacity in the Middle East.”
On Wednesday, Delta Air Lines—one of the first U.S. carriers
to report its first quarter earnings amid the Iran war—revealed that it expects
profits in the second quarter of 2026 to be lower
than originally expected.
The airline’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said that executives are
taking steps such as “meaningfully reducing capacity growth, with a downward
bias until the fuel environment improves.”
Delta will nix its second-quarter capacity growth plans,
cutting supply by about 3.5 percentage points, according to Reuters.
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