Virgin’s Richard Branson: Flight price rises due to ‘foolish leaders’ starting wars

Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson has blamed flight price rises on “foolish leaders” starting wars, in a thinly veiled reference to the US-Israel conflict with Iran.

Middle East tensions have choked the production and transportation of millions of barrels of oil, causing a surge in the price of car and jet fuels, which are made from oil.

In May, Virgin Atlantic added a fuel surcharge to ticket prices in response.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended the conflict as necessary for peace and security long-term.

However, Sir Richard said there was “no need” for the war.

“The Iran conflict was completely unnecessary. There was a nuclear agreement between Iran and the rest of the world that had been negotiated by President Obama and a lot of European people.

“It was working, so there was no need to rip it up… And this war has just resulted in much higher oil prices all over the world. And inflation has been one of the consequences.”

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

The European benchmark jet fuel price had been hovering around $800 (£590) a tonne but spiked following the outbreak of the Iran war, reaching a peak of over $1,800 in April. It has since dropped to around $1,450.

Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive, Corneel Koster, told the BBC that for “this level of fuel price” fuel surcharges were “absolutely required”, adding that it’s “hard to be optimistic at this moment about the situation in the Middle East”.

The surcharge Virgin introduced added £50 to an economy class fare, £180 to premium and £360 to business class.