Airport boss confident fuel prices not an issue

An airport boss said he was confident it would be "business as usual" for the foreseeable future despite global fuel price rises.

The price of flights has been rising since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, but Norwich Airport managing director Richard Pace said he did not anticipate any cancellations due to jet fuel issues.

"We're seeing very little impact at the moment," he said.

This week, the airport reported continued growth in passenger numbers, with a 5% increase to 453,000 in the year ended 31 March 2026, with the introduction of Ryanair flights in 2024 being a key factor.

When asked how much pressure increased fuel costs put on regional airports, Pace said: "At the moment we have no fuel supply issues - we're getting the fuel we need and we're operating normally so it's very much business as usual.

"The commodity price has increased and obviously we have to take account of that, but in reality, most airlines are hedged so they've already forward-bought their fuel before the increase in price we've seen.

"Of course we have to keep an eye on the future but at the moment everything is as expected."

Pace said the year-on year growth of about 5% was "great news... and we can manage many more passengers in the future".

"Increasing passenger numbers is good for everything but we do have to control our costs - we do have some challenges around staff costs and we have to maintain the infrastructure."

These included resurfacing and improved lighting.

"All that extra passenger growth has to support some of these larger projects," he added.

"It's about steady growth so in 10 years' time we get up to around the 800,000 passenger mark - that's the ambition," he said.

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