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An EasyJet plane taxies before take off at London Gatwick Airport. Photo: Gareth Fuller\/PA.<\/p>\nEurope only has six weeks\u2019 supply of jet fuel because of the Middle East conflict, the head of the world\u2019s energy watchdog has warned.<\/p>\n
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), warned there could be flight cancellations \u201csoon\u201d if oil supplies remain restricted by the Iran war.<\/p>\n
Iran continues to have a stranglehold on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Maybe six weeks or so of jet fuel left<\/p>\n
Fatih Birol, International Energy Agency<\/p>\n
Birol told the Association Press this is causing \u201cthe largest energy crisis we have ever faced\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said Asian counties such as Japan, India and China that rely on energy from the Middle East are on \u201cthe front line\u201d, but pressure will then \u201ccome to Europe and the Americas\u201d.<\/p>\n
Europe has \u201cmaybe six weeks or so (of) jet fuel left\u201d, he warned.<\/p>\n
If the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, the impact on Europe may be that \u201csome of the flights from city A to city B might be cancelled as a result of lack of jet fuel\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Thursday, easyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis said all the airports it serves are \u201coperating as normal\u201d.<\/p>\n
He went on: \u201cWe only ever in this industry have three to four weeks visibility (of jet fuel supplies), and that is the same as it was pre-crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have visibility to the middle of May, and we have no concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is airports and fuel suppliers working well to bring jet fuel to the airports.\u201d<\/p>\n
EasyJet reported that the conflict in the Middle East cost it about \u00a325 million in higher jet fuel prices last month.<\/p>\n
The Luton-based airline said it expects to report a headline loss before tax of between \u00a3540 million and \u00a3560 million for the six months to the end of March.<\/p>\n
Our H1 financial performance worsened year on year, impacted by the conflict in the Middle East and the competitive environment in some markets<\/p>\n
Kenton Jarvis, easyJet chief executive<\/p>\n
The war has introduced \u201cnear-term uncertainty around fuel costs and customer demand\u201d, easyJet reported.<\/p>\n
Bookings are down two percentage points for the three months to the end of both June and September compared with a year ago.<\/p>\n
The warning over bigger-than-expected first half losses saw shares in easyJet fall as much as 9% in early trading on Thursday, before settling about 4% lower.<\/p>\n
Mr Jarvis, easyJet chief executive, said: \u201cOur H1 financial performance worsened year on year, impacted by the conflict in the Middle East and the competitive environment in some markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing our busiest Easter holiday period ever, the operational ramp up into peak summer continues as planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cEasyJet\u2019s financial strength from our investment grade balance sheet and \u00a34.7 billion of liquidity mean we are well placed to navigate current geopolitical challenges while remaining focused on our medium term targets.\u201d<\/p>\n
An EasyJet plane taxies before take off at London Gatwick Airport. Photo: Gareth Fuller\/PA.<\/p>\n
Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said while the Middle East war is putting pressure on easyJet, it is \u201cin good financial shape to withstand another period of disruption\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the airline is \u201cwell-versed in dealing with setbacks given past experiences with air traffic control strikes and the stop-start pandemic backdrop\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cSo much depends on what happens next with the Middle East crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cA swift resolution could remove cost pressures and trigger a flurry of bookings.<\/p>\n
\u201cA prolonged crisis could see demand dwindle further and a succession of cancellations if fuel supplies run dry or are rationed in various parts of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Government spokesperson said: \u201cWe continue to engage with British airlines to support their operations against the backdrop of war in the Middle East, and to limit the impact on passengers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost airlines\u202fpurchase\u202ftheir aviation fuel\u202fin advance to offset price fluctuations,\u202fhowever we are aware of the impact to businesses, and are working with international allies to see a reopening of the Strait as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Europe only has six weeks\u2019 supply of jet fuel because of the Middle East conflict, the head of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-402186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}