Some people like IATA, are not so confused and they quote a recent report an interesting trend in Jet Fuel Prices during the last 12 months.
So one can only surmise that companies who are reporting "a struggle with rising fuel prices" must be paying over the odds, (also when hearing airline executives making these statements about increased fuel expenditure, who actually reckons they also take into account important factors such as expanding route networks)
"More Flights result in , hello...... MORE FUEL".
https://www.iata.org/publications/ec...-analysis.aspx