Editor-in-Chief's Letter

Photo: Tom Fisk By Irina Distergoft A business-class ticket from Dubai to London costs more today than it did at the height of post-COVID travel, when airports were overwhelmed, and half the world was desperate to go somewhere. The crowds have thinned since then, but the price has not come down. Jet fuel, ground handling, catering — every layer of the journey got more expensive, and those costs have settled into the fare as if they were always there. For those accustomed to a certain standard of living, it is worth understanding not just what is happening,  but why, and what to do about it. The supply chain What's driving this? Partly geopolitics. The conflict in the Middle East is reverberating through global supply chains with a force that markets are only beginning to price in. Energy is at the root. Petrol prices are up 28% year-on-year. But the more consequential story is that inflation is no longer confined to energy: it has spread. Food prices are up 3.2%. Airline fares have jumped more than 20% as jet fuel costs filter through to tickets. Shelter costs are rising. What began as an energy shock is becoming a broad repricing of everyday life. Maersk, the world’s second-largest container shipping company and one of the most reliable barometers of global trade health,…