Jet Fuel Crisis: The UK and EU Airlines That May Cancel Flights

The US-Iran war, which resulted in the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, means that we’re about to have a lot less fuel than we’re used to.

About 20% of the world’s oil and gas supply usually passes through the narrow shipping lane. Because it usually takes weeks for oil to reach Europe from this point, however, the after-effects of the closure lagged a little, as we were getting oil sent before the conflict started, days after it began.

But The Guardian reports the blockage has already “doubled” the price of jet fuel, leading some carriers to cancel flights.

While Airline UK, which represents multiple big-name airline carriers in the UK, has said “Airlines continue to operate normally and are not experiencing issues with jet fuel supply,” the European Commission has created a plan called “AccelerateEU”.

Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, explained that it involves stepping “up coordination to optimise transport fuel distribution across Europe, starting with jet fuel”.

Europe gets about 75% of its jet fuel from the Middle East, making the blockage especially devastating.

On 16 April, the head of the International Energy Agency said Europe had “maybe six weeks or so” of jet fuel supplies left.

Some changes to EU airlines may affect the UK; for instance, The Independent reported that Norse Atlantic has cancelled its route from the UK to LA.

The BBC reports that the following airlines, which serve the UK, have announced that they plan to run fewer flights, though that doesn’t necessarily mean suspensions or cancellations will hit the UK:

• KLM

• Air Canada

• Asiana Airlines

• Delta Airlines

• Lufthansa

• SAS.

And as we’ve mentioned above:

• Norse Atlantic has cancelled its route from London Gatwick to LA.

Here are all the European airlines cancelling or suspending flights, or expecting to:

On April 16, the Dutch carrier (part of the Air France-KLM group) said it would cancel 160 flights in Europe in the following month to and from Schiphol Airport.

This is also part of the Air France-KLM group and is expected to cancel some flights this May and June.

The carrier cited “The current geopolitical context in the Middle East and its repercussions on the price of aviation fuel” when explaining the change.

The German airline said on 21 April that they would cut 20,000 flights over the next six months, and some flights, like those from Frankfurt to Bydgoszcz and Rzeszów in Poland and Stavanger in Norway, have been cancelled for good.

The Norwegian airline has cancelled its route from the UK to LA in response to rising fuel costs.

The Scandi airline has already cancelled hundreds of flights, The Independent reports, and said it’d cancel 1,000 flights in April.