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(CNN) -- With the fear of SARS and bird flu outbreaks behind them, travelers are returning to Asia's skies in their droves, yet airlines are bracing for turbulent times ahead.
High jet fuel costs are set to hit the sector's profitability, despite the efforts of some airlines to pass the costs onto the consumer in the form of a jet fuel surcharge.
"If you need to travel, you have no choice," one passenger at Hong Kong's International airport told CNN.
"Just like anything else, if you want to travel you are going to have to pay the price," said one American businessman.
Fuel makes up between a quarter and one-fifth of many airlines' operating costs.
Some airlines have been able to hedge their fuel costs until the end of the year, but with high prices this is less viable and is certainly not a long-term solution.
Instead, traveling executives and others are beginning to take the sting out of high fuel costs.
Cathay Pacific has raised fares by $7 for short haul and $19 for long haul flights, while Australia's Qantas Airways has raised ticket prices twice over the past three months.
"Airlines are charging a surcharge, but it is not having much of an impact (on travel)," says Francis Bagaman of American Lloyd Travel.
In the longer term, analysts say that U.S. and European carriers could be hit more than Asian airlines, although this may only be for the present.
"This year is not a big problem. The second half will be more difficult. (But) next year is a big problem," says Kevin O'Connor, head of transport research at CLSA bank.
Both Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines have enjoyed solid growth in the past year, staging healthy recoveries.
Yet state-run Malaysian Airlines, which recently posted a small quarterly profit, has warned that high fuel prices were already beginning to hurt and that fresh bird flu outbreaks could add to the carrier's woes.
Cash from cargo
Jet-setters are not the only ones packing the planes. Cargo is another boon to Asia's airlines.
"You have got recovering economic demand and a shift in the world's production base," says O'Conner.
"It is increasingly (moving) away from the U.S to China, so we are seeing fantastic cargo revenues -- this side of the business is looking brilliant."
In general Asian airlines also have more flexibility when it comes to labor compared to North American or European carriers, yet the future remains unclear.
No one can predict just how long oil prices will be high. The question now remains as to whether passengers will tolerate fuel surcharges on tickets in the long-term.
It helps that economic growth has historically gone hand-in-hand with a growing demand for oil.
CNN Correspondent Eunice Yoon contributed to this report
