- Brent crude hits $80 per barrel
- IAG shares down 3% to 304p
- EasyJet shares down 2% to 495p
Airline stocks took a turn for the worse in morning trading on Monday (13 Jan) as Brent crude hit $80 per barrel – a four month high – driven by wider US sanctions on Russian oil and the expected effects on exports to top buyers China and India.
Brent crude rose $1.68 or 2.1% per barrel to $81.44 after hitting the highest level since 27 August at $81.49.
Analysts at US bank Goldman Sachs (GS:NYSE) said in a research note it is increasingly expecting Brent crude ‘to skew to the upside’ of between $70 and $85 per barrel.
The US bank estimated that the vessels targeted by the new sanctions transported 1.7 million barrels per day of oil in 2024, or 25% of Russia’s exports.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said the doubling of tankers sanctioned for moving Russian barrels could be a major logistical problem affecting crude flows in the future.
Shares in British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) fell nearly 4% to 304p, low-budget airlines EasyJet (EZJ) fell 2%, Ryanair (RYAAY:NASDAQ) shares were down 3% and European budget carrier Wizz Air (WIZZ) fell over 3% to £11.86.
RECORD PASSENGER NUMBERS FOR HEATHROW
Separately, UK airport hub Heathrow released record passenger numbers for December.
Christmas and New Year holiday makers reached seven million ‘making it the busiest ever December’ bringing the total to 83.9 million passengers in 2024 – three million more than the previous record in 2019.
New York, Los Angeles, Dublin, and Madrid were among the top destinations in 2024 for passengers.
Heathrow also received a lift from the ‘grey Mondays’ phenomenon which so far has encouraged holiday bookings in 2025.
The UK airport hub forecasts 84.2 million passengers over the full year, adding ‘the airport will be investing over £1 billion again this year to make the airport fit for the future.’
