A top easyJet official has admitted there may be fuel supply problems in ‘three to four weeks.’
With the price of oil and its derivatives, including jet fuel, sharply rising following the war in the Middle East, holidaymakers across the world have been warned that thousands of flights in the coming weeks may be axed.
Javier Gándara, the country director for easyJet’s southern Europe, told the Majorca Daily Bulletin that it is ‘difficult’ to predict exactly how bad the problem will be after ‘three or four weeks.’
He added: ‘Everything [will be] affected because, ultimately, we are talking about a global market.
‘No one will be immune to potential supply problems.’
But he also said he believed that whatever impact the ongoing war in the Middle East will have on fuel prices will likely be negative: ‘All consumers will experience a significant impact on their income due to the increase in mortgage and rental prices, food, gasoline, and so on.
‘What will be the net effect of both? It’s difficult to predict.’
Just last month, easyJet’s CEO Kenton Jarvis warned holidaymakers to book flights ‘as early as possible’ to avoid price jumps if the price of oil stays high.
Travel experts agreed with Jarvis’ assessment amid fears short haul flights to destinations such as the sunny Mediterranean could rise within weeks, even if the war were brought to an end tomorrow.
Dustin Benton, the managing director of Forefront Advisers, which advises airlines on policy, has warned that a number of factors would continue to affect the global supply chain of the crucial fuel: ‘You can’t just snap your fingers and switch everything back on.
Sally Gethin, an aviation specialist, said the scale of the impact on air passengers will depend on how long the Strait remains closed.
‘Even if it opens you’d still need time for the jet fuel supplies to start up again,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘So the best case scenario would be fares going up and some routes being cancelled.
‘The worst case scenario is if this carries on for six to eight weeks and the shortages start really biting. This could pose an existential crisis to airlines – even if they slap on fuel surcharges they still won’t recoup the cost.
‘You could be looking at tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands, of flights being cancelled globally. It could affect holiday companies as well, although consumers will be protected if their trips are covered by ATOL.’
Ms Gethin predicted that smaller airports with less jet fuel storage would be hit hardest, while flights on routes that had only been recently launched by airlines were most liable to cancellation.
She suggested the end result of the jet fuel crisis could be a situation similar to the 1990s when air travel was more expensive and there are fewer low-fare airlines than today, although she stressed the situation was rapidly evolving and hard to predict.
Over the weekend, Irish carrier Aer Lingus said it was cutting over 500 flights from its schedule in the coming weeks for ‘mandatory maintenance’ on aircraft.
The airline is set to axe several scheduled transatlantic flights, including services to and from Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis-St Paul and Toronto, according to internal documents seen by the Irish Independent.
As per the internal information, flights to London Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and Edinburgh will also be cancelled, with passengers rebooked onto alternative services.
In continental Europe, German carrier Lufthansa said last week that a regional subsidiary, Lufthansa CityLine, will suspend operations from Saturday due to high kerosene prices and labour disputes.
And Dutch airline KLM has cancelled 160 flights across the next month as a result of rising fuel costs.
Seven other airlines have announced cuts to flights so far. They are British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand and Norse Atlantic Airways.
An easyJet spokesperson told the Mail: ‘We continue to engage with fuel suppliers, airports and governments to monitor the situation.’
