Airlines cut flights

Airlines are cutting flights, raising fares and adding fees as jet fuel prices jump and some carriers struggle to secure enough supply. (cnbc.com) The pressure is showing up in schedules. Cirium data cited by Business Insider show 19 of the world’s 20 largest airlines have reduced planned May flying, and global capacity for the month is down 3 percentage points from early-March plans. (businessinsider.com) Fuel is usually an airline’s biggest cost after labor, and the price move has been abrupt. CNBC reported U.S. jet fuel rose from $2.50 a gallon on February 27 to $4.88 on April 2, after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted. (cnbc.com) Jet fuel is refined from crude oil, so airlines can hedge some oil exposure and still get hit when refining margins blow out. Qantas said on April 14 that its crude hedges cover about 90% of second-half 2026 exposure, but jet refining margins still surged from about $20 a barrel in February to a peak of around $120. (qantasnewsroom.com.au) That move forced Qantas to lift its expected second-half 2026 fuel bill to A$3.1 billion to A$3.3 billion from an earlier A$2.5 billion forecast. The airline said it is making international network changes, lifting fares and cutting domestic capacity in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 by about 5 percentage points. (qantasnewsroom.com.au) The squeeze is hitting weaker airlines hardest. Spirit Airlines built its restructuring plan around 2026 jet fuel at $2.24 a gallon, but Yahoo Finance, citing company filings and market data, said jet fuel was $4.32 a gallon on April 16. (finance.yahoo.com) J.P. Morgan estimated that if fuel stayed near $4.60 a gallon this year, Spirit’s 2026 operating margin could fall to about negative 20% from the 0.5% margin in its restructuring plan. Spirit told Fortune it does not comment on “market rumors and speculation” and said operations were continuing as normal. (finance.yahoo.com) The supply question is sharper in Europe and parts of Asia, which rely more on imported jet fuel. On April 16, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol told The Associated Press that Europe had “maybe six weeks or so” of jet fuel left if supplies remained blocked. (apnews.com) European officials pushed back on the most dire version of that warning. On April 17, European Union Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said there was “no indication” shortages were causing widespread cancellations and said the bloc had sufficient fuel supplies for the coming period. (politico.eu) For travelers, the near-term pattern is already visible: fewer marginal flights, higher ticket prices and more ancillary charges on routes airlines think cannot absorb today’s fuel bill. United Chief Executive Scott Kirby said in March the carrier was pruning near-term flying because “there’s no point in burning cash” on service that cannot cover those costs. (cnbc.com)