las vegas — The German company that owns Lufthansa and other European airlines said on Tuesday that it would cancel 20,000 short-haul flights until October. Iran war This leads to higher oil prices and deepens fears of a possible decline in oil prices in some countries Aviation fuel.
the Lufthansa Group It said that canceling the less profitable routes, which largely focus on the main airports in the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich, would save the equivalent of about 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel.
The company last week closed one of its regional subsidiaries, CityLine, to cut costs. It said the “planned consolidation” within its European network would also include Lufthansa Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, SWISS, ETAA Airways, and hubs in Brussels, Rome, Vienna and Zurich.
The price of jet fuel has more than doubled in some markets since late February, when the war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Airlines are particularly vulnerable to fuel price shocks because jet fuel typically represents one of their largest operating expenses.
For travelers, this already translates into fewer flight options on some routes and higher fees and fares to the U.S. Peak summer seasonWith many airlines Increased checked baggage fees Or add fuel surcharges.
Fighting about Strait of HormuzIt is a waterway located off the Iranian coast and through which a fifth of the world’s oil usually passes, and it has caused disruption in fuel prices and supplies around the world.
The head of the International Energy Agency estimated on April 16 that Europe had approx 6 weeks worth Of the remaining aviation fuel, she said that airlines will begin cutting routes from their schedules without more. The EU’s top energy official also warns that the energy crisis sparked by the war could affect prices for months “or perhaps years” to come.
“This is not a small, short-term increase in prices,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said on Wednesday.
Jorgensen said the war was costing Europe about 500 million euros ($600 million) per day.
“Even in the best-case scenario, it’s still bad,” he said.
Jorgensen also told reporters that EU governments are “very concerned” about potential aviation fuel shortages. He says the European Commission is doing what it can to help, but Europe is mostly on the defensive.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa said it had secured enough jet fuel “for the coming weeks” and was “following a range of measures” to keep fuel supplies stable for the summer, “including the actual purchase of jet fuel.”
All but one of the world’s top 20 airlines have canceled scheduled May flights covering all major regions, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. In addition to Lufthansa, it includes airlines Delta Airlines, United Airlinesamerican airlines, Air CanadaCirium said Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air China, British Airways and Air France KLM.
Last week, Edelweiss Air, a Swiss-based airline, announced it would stop service to Denver and Seattle this summer and reduce its flights to Las Vegas during the early fall.
Air New Zealand is consolidating about 4% of its flight schedule in May and June.
“Like airlines globally, we are seeing jet fuel prices more than double what they normally would be,” the company said.
Global price of Aviation fuel It rose from about $99 per barrel at the end of February to $209 per barrel at the beginning of April.
In addition to cutting flights, some airlines are also slowing their plans to add more seats and routes as a way to keep costs under control. delta which Earnings season has begun US airlines said in early April that they had canceled plans to add more flights and seats in June, leaving about 3.5% fewer seats than originally planned.
As US airlines continue to report their first-quarter earnings, uncertainty about fuel costs is also showing up in their financial forecasts. Many carriers are either lowering their full-year forecasts or holding back from updating them.
Southwest Airlines said Wednesday it expects second-quarter earnings to come in below Wall Street estimates, citing higher fuel prices, and left its 2026 outlook unchanged. A day earlier, United Airlines said it now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $7 to $11 per share, down from a previous forecast of $12 to $14.
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Associated Press journalist Lorne Cook contributed to this report from Brussels, Belgium.