The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price has hit more turbulence today.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) travel share closed on Friday at $4.92 and is currently trading for $4.59.
That leaves the Qantas share price down 6.8% in afternoon trading.
Why are ASX travel shares under pressure?
It's not just the Qantas share price sliding today.
Fellow ASX 200 travel share Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) is down 4.6% and the Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price is down 3.6%.
ASX travel shares have come under renewed pressure just as there looked to be light at the end of the tunnel of the years' long pandemic border closures.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine not only appears likely to dampen international travel demand, particularly through Europe, but it's sent the price of fossil fuels soaring. And with Western nations now seriously discussing sanctioning Russia's oil exports, the pace of the price rises has only picked up.
Brent crude oil spiked 8.5% over the past 24 hours and is currently trading for US$128 per barrel, according to data from Bloomberg. You have to go all the way back to 2009 to find crude fetching higher prices.
With oil prices now up 42% since this time last month, investors may be hitting the sell button with concerns over the mounting costs of jet fuel.
Qantas share price snapshot
With today's intraday losses factored in, Qantas shares are down 15.8% over the past month. That compares to a 1.1% loss posted by the ASX 200 over that same period.
Despite the recent headwinds, the Qantas share price remains up 94% from its 20 March 2020 early pandemic lows.
