Why won't flight prices go down even as oil gets cheaper?

Ed Bastian from Delta basically said it out loud this week. Fares are staying elevated even if jet fuel prices come down. Per the Fox Business piece from Thursday and the New York Post, he's not hedging about it.

The fuel side is real enough. TravelPulse reported US airlines' fuel costs jumped 84% in May 2026, hitting over $6.6 billion. Crain's tied that to the Mideast conflict pushing jet fuel bills up. So the cost pressure exists.

But even with that, the CEO is saying fares won't drop when fuel normalizes. marketplace.org on Wednesday dug into why, and a big part is just less competition. Spirit shut down, which left gates sitting empty. Detroit Airport actually raised fees because of it, per WRIF. Fewer budget carriers means the remaining airlines don't need to fight as hard on price.

And separately, the Trump administration is moving to roll back airline price transparency rules, per Yahoo on Thursday. Robert Reich flagged it as making flying worse for consumers. So even the rules that forced airlines to show the full price upfront might go away.

Feels like the structural answer is consolidation, fewer low-cost options, and deregulation. Oil is the excuse, not the whole story.

Anyone booking domestic US flights for late summer, are you seeing prices that make sense, or just swallowing it?