Air cargo carriers are introducing or adjusting fuel surcharges as ongoing market disruptions due to the Iran war continue to drive fuel supply and cost volatility.
Logistics networks have faced ongoing disruptions and increased transportation costs after U.S. military strikes against Iran in February. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a critical sea passage for transiting oil and other commodities — has pushed up the price of fuel.
On April 27, the spot price of U.S. Gulf Coast kerosene-type jet fuel reached $4.03 per gallon, about 42 cents higher than the previous week and nearly double last year’s prices, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. At the beginning of this month, Xeneta reported that air freight rates from Northeast and Southeast Asia to North America had risen by mid-to-high double digits due to growing jet fuel costs.
Besides raising costs, fuel volatility has spurred other ripple effects across global air freight markets, creating further pressures.
“When flights are rerouted or capacity is not available, this increases fuel burn and reduces the availability of payload, alongside limited jet fuel availability,” logistics provider Rhenus Logistics told Supply Chain Dive. “All of this impacts schedules and reliability, as carriers adjust their operations.”
In addition to air cargo, supply chain executives are contending with price hikes and disruptions across freight modes. Ocean carriers MSC, CMA CGM, Ocean Network Express and Maersk have implemented fuel surcharges and higher rates, on-highway diesel prices for trucking carriers remain elevated and parcel carrier UPS added a “Surge Emergency Fee” effective April 19 for a range of U.S. import and export shipments.
Here is a rundown of domestic and international air cargo carriers setting surcharges to help buffer the impact of fuel volatility.
United Cargo
United Airlines’ cargo arm will implement a “Market Disruption Fee” on freight shipments, effective May 1, per a notice published April 18. The fee covers domestic U.S. shipments as well as freight departing from the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. The highest fee is on shipments from Asia Pacific at 55 cents per kilogram.
During an April 22 earnings call, United CEO Scott Kirby said the carrier has been working to navigate the impact of jet fuel prices, which have doubled. He further noted that United is making “near-term tactical adjustments” to account for the fuel costs.
In some cases, Kirby added, it doesn’t make sense to fly certain routes that would “lose cash in a higher fuel price environment.” In turn, any network adjustments would impact available belly capacity.
“We obviously have some time to see what happens, but if jet fuel remains elevated compared to our pre-war levels as we think it might, we'd once again expect to require less capacity growth in 2027 than we were planning just two months ago,” Kirby said.
Air Canada Cargo
Air Canada Cargo announced plans to implement an “Airfreight Carrier Surcharge” to partially offset the growing price of fuel, airport and en-route fees due to the conflict in the Middle East, per an April 16 update.
Effective April 27, different surcharge levels are based on short-, medium- and long-haul flights. The carrier added that the air freight surcharge will be reviewed and adjusted regularly in response to fluctuating market conditions.
Cathay Cargo
Hong Kong-based Cathay Cargo — the freight arm of carrier Cathay Pacific — is reviewing and revising cargo fuel surcharges every two weeks as ongoing volatility in the Middle East continues to alter the price of jet fuel, a spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive.
“Like many airlines, Cathay undertakes fuel hedging to manage fuel price volatility,” the spokesperson said. “However, in 2026 our hedging covers only around 30% of the crude oil component and hedging does not apply to the refinery component, making this measure insufficient given the scale of the recent surge in jet fuel price.”
However, Cathay Cargo outlined slightly lower surcharges for short-, medium- and long-haul flights starting May 1.
ANA Cargo
Japan-based ANA Cargo implemented fuel surcharges prior to the military conflict in the Middle East but has since made revisions to accommodate the spike in fuel prices caused by the war, a spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive.
“We will continue to assess the future application of the fuel surcharge while taking into consideration trends in the fuel market and the international air cargo market,” they said.
Lufthansa Cargo
Lufthansa Cargo, based in Germany, has also been leveraging an air freight surcharge to mitigate the elevated price of fuel, the carrier told Supply Chain Dive.
“The Airfreight Surcharge reflects the volatility of significant, externally driven cost components (Fuel, currency, flight-dependent cost, security),” Lufthansa Cargo said. “Following an internal methodology, we monitor the development of the components of the Airfreight Surcharge.”
The carrier adjusts the fee as costs shift.
