DALLAS — The computer screen on Scott Topping’s desk at Southwest Airlines flickered with row after row of dates and numbers, but they had nothing to do with arrivals and departures.

They tracked the price of oil futures for the next several months, and they told a grim tale: No letup in sight from record prices for jet fuel.

“We’re on a one-way street right now,” Topping said as he hunched over the screen, shaking his head.

It’s Topping’s job to oversee Southwest’s battle to control surging fuel costs. It is the most successful program of its kind in the airline industry.

In the first quarter of this year, Southwest paid $1.98 per gallon for fuel. American Airlines paid $2.73, and United paid $2.83 per gallon in the same period.

Since 1999, hedging has saved Southwest $3.5 billion. It has sometimes meant the difference between profit and loss. In the first quarter, hedging gains of $291 million dwarfed Southwest’s $34 million profit.

Hedging is a financial strategy that lets airlines or other investors protect themselves against rising prices for commodities such as oil by locking in a price for fuel. It has been described as everything from gambling to buying insurance.

Airlines can hedge in several ways, making financial transactions with banks, energy companies or other trading partners.

They can buy contracts for crude oil or unleaded gasoline, and reap a gain if prices rise, offsetting the higher cost of jet fuel.

They can buy a “call option” that gives them the right to buy fuel at a certain price.

They can also use collar hedges, a combination of rights to buy and sell at set prices (“call” and “put” options). Collars provide protection from a decline in prices but less upside if prices rise.

Airlines also use swaps, contracts that require them to buy oil or fuel on a certain date at a set price. These are risky — one party in a swap wins, the other loses.

Most airlines use a combination of strategies to reduce risk.

The transactions carry a price tag. Southwest spent $52 million on hedging premiums last year and $14 million in the first three months of this year.

As a result mostly of trades made years ago, Southwest has hedged 70 percent of this year’s fuel needs at $51 a barrel instead of the current price of more than $140 a barrel.