Airline says fuel crisis is not to blame as 10% of planned flights binned
08:06, 24 Apr 2026Updated 13:01, 24 Apr 2026
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Ireland’s biggest airline says it will now not be operating around one in ten of the flights it had planned out of Dublin over the busiest period of the year. These are flights that they had been planning to add as extra capacity on existing routes and bookings already made should not be affected.
Ryanair has said the decision is not related to the looming jet fuel crisis as Donald Trump’s war in the Gulf lurches from ceasefire and peace talks to blockade and back again. The airline has instead blamed the cap on flights out of Ireland’s biggest airport and the limit on the passenger numbers of 32 million a year.
It has been a week of severe uncertainty for the airline sector and a strike at London’s Stanstead Airport next month will add to the stresses for airlines and passengers during the busiest part of the year.
According to industry data, Europe’s biggest airline has already reduced the number of planned summer season flights out of Irish airports by around 4,500 with the vast majority of services binned in Dublin.
In a statement, the airline said; “We cannot invest in growth at Dublin until this cap is abolished and the Dublin Airport Authority extends its growth incentive schemes.”
Ryanair has said it has around 80% of the fuel stocks it needs for 2026 operations already secured and reiterated that the cut in flights is not related to the crisis in the Middle East – but a spokesperson said they would continue to monitor the situation in the Gulf.
Earlier this week, Aer Lingus also announced significant cuts in scheduled flights for the coming weeks and months but the airline also denied that this was related to the jet fuel shortages projected to hit Europe within weeks. Aer Lingus said the decision was taken due to regular and routine maintenance and related operational requirements with its fleet.
Lufthansa has also just closed it’s CityLine subsidiary, affecting over 20,000 planned flights across Europe this year. That sudden decision – which will close the Cork-Frankfurt route – took the travel sector by surprise.
A Cork Airport spokesperson confirmed: “For the period from now until the end of May, the suspension of several routes and reduction of frequencies is unfortunately unavoidable, including the Frankfurt – Cork service.”
The Airport is “working directly with Lufthansa mainline and other airlines to secure the timely reinstatement of the Frankfurt service.”
According to Lufthansa, its Europe-wide flight schedule is currently under review. The Cork-Frankfurt route was due to expand to a six-times-per-week service for the summer season this year.