South African travellers are seeing airfares rise as airlines respond to a sharp surge in jet fuel prices caused by the ongoing conflict in Iran.

Jet fuel costs have jumped approximately 70%, forcing carriers to adjust pricing to keep up with the soaring operational expenses.

FlySafair’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kirby Gordon, says the airline has introduced a temporary fuel surcharge for flights booked from today until 12 May 2026.

“We will be specifically itemising this temporary dynamic fuel surcharge on all tickets to ensure fairness and transparency to our customers.”

Meanwhile, Airlink has taken a slightly different approach, increasing fares for new bookings, while keeping existing tickets unaffected.

The sudden jump in fuel prices follows the disruption of oil supply routes in the Middle East, sending shockwaves through global aviation markets.

Gordon emphasised FlySafair’s commitment to transparency.

“Instead of increasing fares across the board or hiding costs, we have chosen to introduce a clearly labelled, temporary surcharge. This gives customers full visibility into what they are paying for and allows us to remove the surcharge once prices stabilise.”