Europe’s biggest airlines say fuel price spike caused by Iran war will drive up fares

A picture


Europe’s biggest airlines have said the rise in fuel prices caused by the war in the Middle East will drive up fares and are advising passengers to book early.While carriers have partly hedged the price of jet fuel, bosses said they could not keep avoiding passing on additional costs to passengers for long.Long-haul airlines such as Air France-KLM and Lufthansa said they would be adding more flights via Asia with Gulf carriers’ hubs either shut or operating at a reduced level since the US-Israeli attack on Iran.EasyJet dismissed any fears of imminent fuel shortages affecting flights in Europe despite concerns about supplies in parts of Asia, with Vietnamese airlines this week warning that they may reduce schedules.Kenton Jarvis, the airline’s chief executive, said it was “not seeing any issues” with its fuel supply.

However, he said passengers should book as early as possible, with hedges on the price starting to unwind, spelling higher fares.Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, likewise downplayed immediate changes but said that if fuel price increases “drag on for six months” it would become an issue for airlines.According to Iata’s jet fuel monitor, the price of kerosene was already 94% up on the annual average at the end of last week, and the price of crude oil rose sharply again on Thursday after escalating hostilities.The executives were speaking in Brussels as part of Airlines for Europe (A4E), a trade and lobbying group covering 16 airline groups, including BA’s owner, IAG; Air-France-KLM; and Lufthansa.There were indications that there could also be silver linings in the crisis for Europe’s long-haul carriers, if they manage to reassert their global role after ceding ground to airlines and airport hubs in the Gulf.

Lufthansa said it had added 40 flights to Asia to compensate for disruption in the Gulf.Air France-KLM said it was also boosting capacity to Asia, recapturing some market share on the back of “very healthy” demand on routes to Asia and Africa.BA this week announced direct flights to Melbourne in Australia, extending flights via Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia from London Heathrow.It said it was adding more services to destinations such as the Caribbean that avoid flying through congested and disrupted Middle Eastern airspace.However, tourism to Europe could be hit, consultancy Oxford Economics warned, with almost 28m outbound trips from the Middle East at risk.

It said Turkey, France and the UK were particularly vulnerable with a typically higher share of Middle Eastern visitors.Mediterranean destinations such as Spain, Portugal and Greece could benefit as alternatives for those who might have visited the Gulf, it said.A4E bosses put out a collective statement urging Europe’s leaders to back the industry by cutting green taxes, saying they were “losing competitive ground to non-EU airlines, destinations and hubs that do not face similar regulatory obligations”.They said it would be a choice between “growing connectivity or a cutback in routes”, adding: “The large-scale airspace shutdowns in the Middle East are a reminder of our resilience and how important EU airlines and hubs are for connectivity with the rest of the world.”The airlines called on the EU to amend its upcoming mandates for greener fuel, with a minimum 6% blend of sustainable aviation fuel by 2030, including 0.

7% eSAF, a synthetic fuel derived from renewable energy rather than the current feedstock, which primarily uses cooking oil.Jarvis said: “We are calling for the eSAF mandate to be postponed until eSAF is actually available.”However, the EU’s transport commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, indicated that the call was unlikely to be heeded immediately, telling Reuters it was up to the industry to invest in the fuels.Transport & Environment, a campaign group that advocates for clean transport and energy, condemned the call.Camille Mutruelle, T&E’s aviation policy officer, said the airlines were “generating the very uncertainty that is preventing the scale-up of sustainable aviation fuel”, adding: “No credible industrial policy can survive if targets are treated as optional.

And no investor will commit to future clean technologies under such conditions,”
cultureSee all
A picture

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘He uses his bones to feel things instead of his brain’

Late-night hosts on Monday discussed the Academy Awards, Maga’s incoherent statements on the Iran war and raised an eyebrow to Donald Trump’s claims of support from an anonymous former president.On Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host focused on Trump’s comments to the press in week three of the Iran war, or as Kimmel called it “Operation Epsteino Distracto”.On Truth Social, Trump wrote that it was a “great honour” to kill “scumbags” in Iran.“He’s been talking very tough for a guy who seems to almost be in a coma right now,” Kimmel said.“Even with all the killing he has been enjoying so much, he is very low energy lately,” the host continued

A picture

Carnivàle revisited: is this HBO’s strangest show?

Carnivàle premiered on HBO in 2003 and was cancelled after only two seasons. In the immediate aftermath, this decision was protested by the small but dedicated cult following the show had amassed (to the tune of 50,000 emails).But in the years since, as the television canon has expanded and the taste for mystery-box TV has waned, Carnivàle now seems little more than a minor curio in HBO’s ever-expanding back catalogue. So what is this curio about?Carnivàle follows the exploits of its titular carnival as they travel across the American dust bowl in the 1930s. At the beginning of the series, these nomadic showpeople pick up Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), an ex-con with a mysterious past (and inexplicable powers)

A picture

‘We kicked Bono’s arse’: how we made Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again (with a little help from Kraftwerk)

‘Kerry’s spoken verse needed 39 takes spread over several months because she’d had her tonsils out’People never believe me that Kraftwerk created Atomic Kitten. In 1996, my band OMD released Walking on the Milky Way, which I thought was one of the best songs I’d ever written. But in the age of Britpop, we were perceived as an 80s synthpop band, past our sell-by date. Radio 2 wouldn’t play the song and Woolworths wouldn’t stock it. I thought: “I’m functioning with one arm tied behind my back

A picture

Gatz review – the Great Gatsby performed in eight and a half hours of attentive, immersive joy

A man enters his office in the morning, finds his computer on the fritz and, after a few attempts to turn it on and off again, comes across a copy of F Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. So he starts to read and when his colleagues enter they find themselves taking on the characters, and soon the novel unfolds around us, word by word. The New York theatre company Elevator Repair Service has produced a work that is not quite adaptation – given it doesn’t really adapt the novel at all – but that is utterly transfixing nonetheless.Following a keen interest in non-dramatic texts, the company wanted to see what would happen when a powerful literary work was read and performed in its entirety. The result is both strange and strangely familiar

A picture

How to Make a Killing to Wu-Tang Clan: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

Glen Powell indulges in some murder most profitable, and the influential rap collective arrive in the UK complete with a clutch of peerless classicsHow to Make a KillingOut nowLoosely inspired by the much-loved Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, here is a dark comedy that sees Glen Powell play an upwardly mobile schemer who isn’t afraid to murder his way to his inheritance. Directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal).Reminders of HimOut nowMaika Monroe (It Follows) stars as a woman who goes to prison following a car accident in which her boyfriend (Rudy Pankow) is killed. On release, she finds herself drawn to a handsome local bar owner (Tyriq Withers). Romance based on the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel

A picture

The Guide #234: Five big questions before the 2026 Oscars

Happy Oscars Eve eve to you all. The film industry’s glitziest night takes place on Sunday, at an ungodly hour for those of us covering it from the other side of the Atlantic. Coffee will be essential for anyone staying up, as will the Guardian’s annual liveblog, covering every last minute of the ceremony as well as its red carpet run-up. Head over to the homepage on Sunday evening for that, plus news and commentary on the night’s events.There’s plenty to read before that too: our annual Oscar hustings, making the case for each of this year’s best picture nominees (I sided with Sentimental Value); an interview with Academy top dog Bill Kramer; a piece on the increasingly toxic discourse around many of this year’s nominees; and Guardian film editor Catherine Shoard’s reader Q&A on this year’s race and the state of film in general