As an island nation, Ireland is ‘significantly’ exposed to jet fuel supply shortages, aviation expert Anita Mendiratta told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
With roughly 90% of our visitors coming by air and 50% of cargo there is particular “vulnerability” here, she said, as airlines and aviation sector bodies warn of the looming jet fuel crisis.
The International Energy Agency warned that European stocks would reach a crucial level in June, at which physical shortages would begin.
In normal times, two thirds of Europe’s jet fuel imports come from the Middle East. The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz means Europe’s imports of jet fuel from the United States reached record levels.
“Importantly, this isn’t just the raw crude coming through the Strait of Hormuz. It’s also the refining that the raw crude needs to go through to become jet fuel, which is taking place in the Middle East,” she said.
“And sadly, many of the refineries have been hit during the conflicts, and therefore their capacity has dropped dramatically as well,” Ms Mendiratta explained.
The expert added that airlines and airports are currently working on measures to mitigate the looming crisis, adding that hedging and “careful management” will allow Europe to manage fuel prices up “until the end of summer into the fall”.
“Airlines are looking at their schedules very carefully to see where can they thin them out a little bit, pull back on capacity, allow the demand to stay there, but shift it around to certain schedule points and certain destinations, but also using certain aircraft that are much more fuel efficient,” she said.
KLM announced yesterday it will be cutting 80 of its European flights to and from Schiphol due to a spike in the price of kerosene.
Germany’s Lufthansa yesterday said it will ground 27 planes imminently, the first major carrier to do so, whilst EasyJet warned bookings were lagging compared to last year.
Earlier, the European commission said there is no evidence of shortages at the moment, but next month it will introduce mapping of refining capacity for oil products across the bloc.