On the show today, jet fuel, gas, and diesel, a lot of our economy still runs on them.

From American public media, this is Marketplace.

In Denver, I'm Amy Scott in for Kai Rizdal. It is Tuesday, March 17th. Good as always to have you with us.

We are now in today 18 of the war in the Middle East. Commercial airspace in much of the region remains closed.

Oil prices are fluctuating, but high above $100 a barrel for Brent Crude, the international benchmark.

And here in the United States, airport lines keep getting longer as the partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security stretches into a second month and more

TSA agents don't come to work. You see where I'm going here. All of this is adding up for airlines.

Marketplace's Samantha Fields has the 30,000-foot view of the business of flying right now.

Just a few weeks ago, airlines were paying about $2.50 a gallon for jet fuel.

Today, it's closer to $4 a gallon.

That is putting extreme financial pressure on airlines.

Charles Duncan at Altitude X Aviation Group says no one has any idea how long these high fuel prices will last.

Which makes it nearly impossible to plan for. So I think everyone is, you know, taking it day-to-day,

week-to-week. The same is true with the closure of commercial aerospace and the severe disruptions

at key airport hubs in the Middle East, including Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi.

The industry has really had to shift capacity, and passengers have had to scramble to find

new ways to travel globally.

The options for flying from Europe to Asia have narrowed, and Mike Stengel at Aerodynamic

Advisory says in many cases, the new routes are longer.

These detours can add significantly to flight time, which means more fuel.

And higher costs.

Airlines based in the Gulf are more affected than others.

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