By Howard Hardee • Editor
September 28, 2026
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The trickle of oil escaping from the Strait of Hormuz and associated surge in jet fuel prices are unwelcome developments for all global airlines but come at an especially critical time for Alaska Air Group.
The airline company is in an early phase of an international expansion plan, as it adds a host of global destinations and continues taking Boeing 787 Dreamliners to build a long-haul network out of Seattle. With longer flight stages comes greater fuel costs—on top of what is already the U.S. airline sector’s heaviest fuel burden at baseline.
But the parent company of Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air has no intentions of curbing its growth plan, according to Jason Berry, Alaska’s chief operating officer. He addressed still-elevated fuel prices at the Aerospace Futures Alliance’s annual conference in Seattle on September 24.
Alaska Airlines’ new-look 787, pictured before its first flight to Tokyo in January 2026. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Asked by Leeham News and Analysis (LNA) whether Alaska Air Group has been forced to adjust its long-haul expansion or consider earlier-than-expected aircraft retirements, Berry said that rising fuel costs “are a real thing and it’s a challenge.”
“It’s not just about this up-and-down of the volatility of the prices today,” he said. “We all pay that equally, but we also have a disadvantage here on the West Coast, where our fuel prices are typically much more expensive that where our competitors get their fuel from the Gulf and the East Coast. So, we’re working hard and diligently to find other ways to build resiliency into our fuel supply—not just from the current market, but for long term.”
Notably, Berry suggested that exploring alternative fuels, such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), becomes more appealing given the elevated cost of conventionally sourced Jet A-1. (SAF remains much more expensive, but the gap has narrowed.) In the shorter term, the company’s management team plans for high fuel-cost scenarios.
“We have a chicken and egg scenario here,” he said. “We could slow down and scale back, but we know we have huge growth ambitions, and we need to continue to carry forward. We’ll make some decisions on the fringes and on the edges where there’s opportunities. But the reality is that we need to grow. Growth is critical to our future and we’re going to continue to do that wisely.”
