The head of the International Energy Agency has warned that if Europe doesn’t find a way to replace half of its imports from the Middle East before June then flight cancellations look inevitable
“Several European countries may start to face shortages of jet fuel in the next 6 weeks, depending how much they are able to import from international markets to replace the lost supply from the Middle East, which accounted for 75% of Europe’s net imports of jet fuel previously,”
EasyJet said yesterday that the Middle East conflict and rising fuel costs are weighing on customer bookings, with those buying tickets for later in the year down 2% compared with 2025.
The budget carrier said it took on roughly £25 million in additional fuel costs in March alone, and hedged at least 70% of its summer fuel to protect against volatility.
Yesterday the Dutch airline KLM has announced it’s cancelling 80 flights over the coming month it says are no longer financially viable due to rising kerosene costs.
Meanwhile a leaked report obtained by the Times suggests that a shortage of CO2 could mean empty supermarket shelves due to its use in slaughter and food preservation as well as hospitals without functional MRI scanners and serious problems for water purification facilities
