Lufthansa slashes 20K flights as Iran war drives – Business News
The German company that owns Lufthansa Airlines and different European carriers stated Tuesday that it might cut 20,000 short-haul flights by means of October as the Iran war drives up oil costs and deepens worries that some nations could run low on jet fuel.
The Lufthansa Group stated the cancellation of much less profitable routes, centered largely on its hub airports within the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich, would save the equal of roughly 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel.
The company final week shut down one of its regional subsidiaries, CityLine, to cut prices. It stated a “planned consolidation” within its European community additionally would contain Lufthansa Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, SWISS and ITA Airways, and hubs in Brussels, Rome, Vienna and Zurich.
A Lufthansa aircraft strikes on the runway close to Kerosene tanks on the day of the official inauguration ceremony of Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport, in Frankfurt, Germany, April 22, 2026. REUTERS
The price of jet fuel has more than doubled in some markets since late February, when the war started with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. Airlines are notably weak to fuel price shocks as a result of jet fuel usually accounts for one of their largest working bills.
For vacationers, that’s already translating into fewer flight choices on some routes and better charges and fares heading into the height summer season season, with many airways raising checked bag charges or including fuel surcharges.
Fighting across the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway off Iran’s coast the place a fifth of the world’s oil usually passes, has disrupted fuel costs and provides around the globe.
The head of the International Energy Agency estimated on April 16 that Europe had about 6 weeks’ value of jet fuel remaining and stated airways would begin to cut routes from their schedules with out more. The European Union’s high vitality official can also be warning that the vitality disaster sparked by the war may affect costs for months “or maybe even years” to come back.
“This is not a short-term, small increase in prices,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen stated Wednesday.
Jørgensen stated the war is costing Europe round 500 million euros ($600 million) every day.
A Lufthansa Airbus 380 is refueled in Frankfurt airport July 12, 2013. REUTERS
“Even in a best-case scenario,” he stated, “it’s still bad.”
Jørgensen additionally advised reporters that EU governments “are very worried” about potential jet fuel shortages. He says the European Commission is doing what it could to help however that Europe is usually in defensive mode.
Lufthansa, in the meantime, stated it has secured enough jet fuel “for the coming weeks” and was “pursuing a range of measures” to keep its fuel provide secure for the summer season, “including the physical procurement of jet fuel.”
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All however one of the world’s 20 largest airways have canceled scheduled May flights spanning each main area, in accordance with aviation analytics firm Cirium. Besides Lufthansa, the carriers embody Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Air Canada, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air China, British Airways and Air France-KLM, Cirium stated.
Last week, Switzerland-based provider Edelweiss Air introduced it’s dropping service to Denver and Seattle this summer season and decreasing flights to Las Vegas by means of the early autumn.
The emblem of German airline Lufthansa is seen within the foreground as passengers stroll under a flight data show at Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on April 15, 2026. AFP by way of Getty Images
Air New Zealand is consolidating about 4% of its schedule in May and June.
“Like airlines globally, we’re experiencing jet fuel prices that are more than double what they would usually be,” the provider stated.
The world price of jet fuel elevated from about $99 per barrel on the finish of February to as high as $209 a barrel at the start of April.
In addition to slicing flights, some airways are additionally slowing their plans so as to add more seats and routes as a approach to keep prices underneath control. Delta, which kicked off the earnings season for U.S. airways in early April, stated it was scrapping plans so as to add more flights and seats in June, leaving about 3.5% fewer seats than initially deliberate.
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As U.S. carriers proceed to report their first-quarter earnings, the uncertainty round fuel prices can also be displaying up of their financial outlooks. Several carriers are both slashing their full-year forecasts or holding back on updating them.
Southwest Airlines stated Wednesday it expects second-quarter earnings to come back in under Wall Street estimates, citing the upper fuel costs, and it left its 2026 outlook unchanged. A day earlier, United Airlines reported it now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $7 to $11 per share, down from a earlier forecast of $12 to $14.
