Willie Walsh, the chief executive of the company formed by the merger of British Airways and Spain's Iberia, said consumers must get used to higher ticket prices. Arguing there had been a "structural shift in the price of oil", Mr Walsh said: "The industry is going to have to price in $120 oil. As a percentage of our cost base, it's 32pc. For the low-cost guys it's more like 50pc. It is such a big part of an airline's costs that fares will have to go up."