Sorry I was painting this mess with such a broad brush. Agreed they don’t buy crude oil. But they sure do buy futures on jet fuel, and that is why they are in a much better shape financially because they locked in at a much lower price. When we say crude oil I was thinking of the many finished products.
Excellent!
But they sure do buy futures on jet fuel,
No such contract.
Jet fuel futures are not sold. They buy oil futures and the sell their oil futures to others without taking delivery. It is still a hedge against price increase because most of the price increase is based upon the price of crude oil. If it drops, they lose on the hedges but their fuel is cheaper with offset cost/loss.