LAS VEGAS (AP) — The German company that owns Lufthansa and other European airlines said Tuesday it will cut 20,000 short-haul flights through October as the war with Iran drives up oil prices and deepens concerns about possible jet fuel shortages in some countries.
Lufthansa Group said that canceling less profitable routes, mainly concentrated at its hub airports in Frankfurt and Munich, Germany, will save the equivalent of about 40,000 tons of aviation fuel.
The company last week closed one of its regional subsidiaries, CityLine, to cut costs. The company said the “planned consolidation” of its European network will also involve Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Swiss and Alitalia, as well as hubs in Brussels, Rome, Vienna and Zurich.
Jet fuel prices have more than doubled in some markets since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February. Airlines are particularly vulnerable to fuel price shocks because jet fuel typically accounts for one of their largest operating expenses.
For travelers, this has already meant reduced flight options on some routes, rising fees and fares as the summer peak season arrives, and many airlines raising checked bag fees or adding fuel surcharges.
Fighting around the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted fuel prices and supplies around the world. The Strait of Hormuz is a waterway off the coast of Iran through which one-fifth of the world’s oil normally passes.
The head of the International Energy Agency estimated on April 16 that Europe still has about six weeks of jet fuel remaining and said that if there is no more fuel, airlines will start cutting flight schedules. The EU’s top energy official also warned that the energy crisis caused by the war could affect prices in the coming months and “even years”.
“This is not a short-term, small price increase,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said on Wednesday.
Jorgensen said the war was costing Europe about 500 million euros ($600 million) a day.
“Even in the best-case scenario,” he said, “it’s still bad.”
Jorgensen also told reporters that EU governments are “very concerned” about possible aviation fuel shortages. He said the European Commission was doing what it could to help, but Europe was mostly in defensive mode.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa said it had secured enough jet fuel “for the coming weeks” and was “taking a series of measures” to keep fuel supplies stable for the summer, “including the actual purchase of jet fuel”.
All but one of the world’s 20 largest airlines have canceled scheduled flights across major regions in May, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Cirium said that in addition to Lufthansa, these airlines include Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Air Canada, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air China, British Airways and Air France-KLM.
Last week, Switzerland-based Edelweiss Air announced it would cancel flights to Denver and Seattle this summer and reduce flights to Las Vegas through early fall.
Air New Zealand will combine approximately 4% of its flights in May and June.
“Like airlines globally, our jet fuel prices are more than double normal,” the airline said.
Global jet fuel prices rose from about $99 per barrel at the end of February to $209 per barrel in early April.
In addition to cutting flights, some airlines have slowed plans to add seats and routes to control costs. Delta Air Lines kicked off the US airline earnings season in early April. The company said it would cancel plans to increase flights and seats in June, with the number of seats reduced by about 3.5% from the original plan.
As American Airlines continues to report first-quarter earnings, uncertainty about fuel costs also appears in its financial outlook. Several airlines have either slashed their full-year forecasts or delayed updates.
Southwest Airlines said on Wednesday it expected second-quarter profit to be below Wall Street estimates due to higher fuel prices and kept its 2026 outlook unchanged. A day earlier, United Airlines reported that it now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $7 to $11 per share, down from its previous forecast of $12 to $14.
___
Associated Press writer Lorne Cook contributed to this report in Brussels, Belgium.