As an example of how an airline can utilize a jet fuel swap, let’s assume that you’re an airline who consumes a large amount of jet fuel in Asia and you have decided to lock in 50% of your fuel costs for a specific month as you have already sold 50% of your available seats during said month. For sake of simplicity, let’s assume that you are looking to hedge 10,000 BBLs of fuel which will be consumed during the month of June. In order to do accomplish this you could purchase a June 2012 Singapore jet fuel swap, on 10,000 BBLs, from your counter-party (often a major oil company or bank). If you had purchased this swap today at the prevailing market price, the price would have been (approximately) $133.35/BBL.
Now let’s look at how the swap would perform if the average price of jet fuel during the month of June averages both $10 per barrel lower and higher than the price of your swap, $133.35/BBL.
In the first scenario, let’s assume that jet fuel prices in Asia decrease and that the average price for Singapore jet fuel, (as published in Argus Asia-Pacific Products or Platts’ Asia Pacific/Arab Gulf Marketscan) for each business day in June, is $123.35/BBL. Given the $10/BBL decrease, your hedge at $133.35/BBL would result in a “loss” of $10/BBL or $100,000. As a result, you would owe your counter-party $100,000, which would offset the decrease in your actual June fuel cost by $10/BBL on 10,000 BBLs.
In the second scenario, let’s assume that jet fuel fuel prices in Asia increase and that the average price for Singapore jet fuel, for each business day in June, is $143.35/BBL. In this scenario, your hedge would result in a “gain” of $10/BBL or $100,000. As a result, your counter-party would owe you $100,000, which would offset the increase in your actual June fuel costs by $10/BBL.