BRUSSELS — Leading European airlines are boosting ticket prices in reaction to soaring jet fuel prices impacted by the war in Iran, and more carriers may follow suit.

The cost of jet kerosene shipped to Europe reached an all-time high of nearly $1,700 per ton this week, more than double the cost before the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran prompted Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz to most shipping.

“The average profit for my company is about €10 per passenger. There’s no way you can absorb additional costs,” Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa, said Thursday during a press conference at the Airlines for Europe (A4E) summit.

The fuel price surge is already having an impact.

Scandinavian airline SAS said it would cancel at least a thousand flights — largely domestic ones in Norway — in response.

“The price of jet fuel has doubled in 10 days,” CEO Anko van der Werff told Swedish business daily Dagens Industri. “Even if we try to absorb cost increases as much as possible, this is a shock that directly hits the airline industry.”

Air France-KLM said last week it would increase long-haul economy ticket fares by €50 to cover the higher fuel cost.

However, many airlines say they have enough kerosene in reserve to continue flying and to act as a short-term buffer against price swings.

“You see the short-term spike upwards in fuel prices, but most of the airlines here are very well-hedged, so it has a limited impact on costs, but any costing will be passed on to consumers,” said Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. 

The key issue for carriers is how long the war continues, he said. “If it’s over the next month or two, which is the general expectation, then we don’t expect any disruptions … but if it was to drive on for six, eight, nine months and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, then there are issues.”

For now, short-term travel demand remains high as people try to return home in either Europe or Asia, Spohr said, which is protecting airline bottom lines. “But mid-term, let’s be honest, fuel price and ticket prices will have an impact on demand and we all need to see how that will work.”

Fuel prices are also having an effect on the other side of the Atlantic, although U.S. carriers haven’t yet increased ticket prices as they’re still seeing strong demand.

“Now you’re seeing this spike in the last couple weeks, which is driving prices high,” said Christopher Sununu, CEO of Airlines for America, the U.S. equivalent of A4E. 

“If the price per barrel goes from $60 to $100, the price for jet fuel is probably doubling,” Sununu told POLITICO, noting that “25 percent of the cost of putting an airplane in the air is fuel.”

Sununu hoped that the U.S. “can get the Strait of Hormuz secured, probably in the next 40 days or so, hopefully before what in the United States is called Memorial Day [on May 25], the kickoff of summer for us.”

Analysts and airlines are also closely watching the cost of insurance for flying to the Gulf as Iran pounds airports with missiles and drones in retaliation to U.S. and Israeli strikes.

“We don’t fly where it is dangerous. Just because others fly, surely doesn’t mean that we fly,”  Spohr said.

The EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a recommendation for airlines to avoid airspace over areas affected by the conflict in the Middle East and the Gulf until March 27. The conflict zone information bulletin covers 11 counties — Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

When asked what might happen next, O’Leary said: “It’s impossible to tell, none of us know what’s going to happen in Iran. It is very difficult to see the U.S. and the Israelis keeping up this level of attrition beyond another five or six weeks.”