Budget airlines lead flight cuts as fuel crisis starts to bite

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has removed a significant portion of global oil supply, pushing jet fuel prices sharply higher and raising concerns about potential shortages that could disrupt airline operations. ALSO READ: Europe warns of looming jet fuel shortages amid Iran conflict.

Carriers are already taking action rather than waiting for supplies to tighten further.

On Monday, Spain’s Industry and Tourism Minister, Jordi Hereu, said consumers should secure airline tickets as soon as possible to avoid further increases, noting that current fares still reflect fuel purchased at earlier, lower prices. ALSO READ: Book flights early, Spain advises, as oil price surge threatens fares.

‘Travel alert: airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,’ Travel Therapy TV host Karen Schaler also said in an Instagram reel this past weekend. ‘Book early.’

Her warning echoes concerns previously raised by Ryanair’s Group CEO Michael O’Leary, who noted earlier this month that uncertainty over fuel availability was discouraging passengers from booking flights.

Budget airlines — which account for just over a third of the global aviation market by some estimates — are among the first to feel the strain due to their business model. With lower ticket prices, they have less flexibility to absorb rising fuel costs.

While some route cuts may reflect the routine adjustments airlines make when demand underperforms, the spike in fuel prices is forcing tougher decisions. Routes that were once marginally profitable — or even loss-making — are becoming unsustainable, particularly as the busy summer travel season approaches.

‘Unfortunately, it’s very likely that many people’s holidays will be affected, either by flight cancellations or very, very expensive tickets,’ the EU’s energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen told Sky News last week.

How quickly airlines respond depends partly on whether they locked in fuel purchases at fixed prices in advance — a strategy more commonly used by European carriers than those in other regions. ALSO READ: Spain signals support for EU jet fuel sharing as imports from US & Nigeria increase.

Some airlines have already begun scaling back operations. Canada’s low-cost carrier Air Transat has reduced its flight programme by 6% for the May-to-October period.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asia’s largest budget airline, AirAsia X, confirmed further cuts to flights and routes on Friday, although it did not provide an overall figure. Earlier in the month, the airline said fares would rise by as much as 40%, adding that roughly 10% of its network had already been trimmed.

Hungary’s Wizz Air has so far opted not to reduce capacity.

‘We are not taking capacity out, because I think the other guys will take capacity out,’ its chief executive Jozsef Varadiwas quoted as saying recently by trade magazine Aviation Week.

‘You don’t have to run faster than the bear, but faster than the guy next to you,’ he added.

Elsewhere, Germany’s Lufthansa has made some of the most significant cuts, announcing it will remove 20,000 flights from its schedule through October and suspend operations at its regional subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine.

Rival group Air France-KLM has reduced flights by 2% in May and June at its Transavia budget arm, while KLM has limited cancellations to around 1% of its European services.

Although Ryanair did not directly attribute recent changes to fuel prices, it cited rising costs and taxes when announcing plans to cut flights to and from Berlin from October. The airline is also reducing its Dublin schedule by 10%, pointing to capacity constraints at the airport.

In Spain, Volotea has trimmed nearly 1% of its planned summer flights since the start of the month.