{"id":434327,"date":"2026-05-06T01:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/434327\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T01:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:52:14","slug":"airlines-cut-13000-flights-and-two-million-seats-in-may-due-to-jet-fuel-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/434327\/","title":{"rendered":"Airlines cut 13,000 flights and two million seats in May due to jet fuel crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n                    Published on                 05\/05\/2026 &#8211; 17:37 GMT+2\u2022Updated<br \/>\n                                     18:13\n                                        <\/p>\n<p>Half-term travel plans could be significantly hit as global airlines announce the cancellation of around 13,000 flights scheduled for May. <\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>According to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/tag\/airlines\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">carriers<\/a> have already slashed nearly two million seats from May\u2019s flight schedules in just the past fortnight. <\/p>\n<p>Cirium\u2019s data revealed that the total number of seats available throughout May across all airlines globally decreased from 132 million to 130 million during the last two weeks of April. <\/p>\n<p>The axed flights could significantly affect travel for individuals and families who have booked a trip abroad during half term at the end of May in the UK and in parts of mainland Europe. <\/p>\n<p>Among the European carriers cancelling flights include Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, and KLM. <\/p>\n<p>The two million figure doesn\u2019t include what is likely to be a hugely disrupted summer for passenger aviation. <\/p>\n<p>A difficult summer ahead for aviation<\/p>\n<p>Carriers have also cut millions of seats and switched to smaller planes as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/tag\/fuel-crisis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">jet fuel shortage<\/a> \u2013 linked to the Iran conflict \u2013 continues to affect schedules, raising the risk of disruption for holidaymakers.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside Turkish Airlines, Germany\u2019s flag carrier, Lufthansa, is one of the most affected by the fuel shortage. It\u2019s been particularly tough, cutting around 20,000 short-haul routes from its summer schedule. <\/p>\n<p>Since the Iran conflict began in February, the cost of jet fuel has more than doubled, thanks in part to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has cut off around a fifth of the world\u2019s supply of oil.<\/p>\n<p>Globally, many airlines have raised fares on the most popular routes, fully cancelled flights on less desirable routes, and are continuing to use smaller planes to conserve fuel. <\/p>\n<p>In the UK, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced that a rule requiring airlines to use flight slots at UK airports or risk having them handed to rivals would be temporarily suspended. <\/p>\n<p>In practice, that means operators like British Airways can cut flights without being penalised. <\/p>\n<p>As the spring and summer continue, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/travel\/2026\/05\/04\/uk-airlines-to-group-passengers-from-different-flights-on-same-day-to-save-on-jet-fuel\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">passengers<\/a> on the most popular flights whose flights aren\u2019t cancelled could be rebooked onto services on another day, meaning their holidays could be shorter than originally planned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 05\/05\/2026 &#8211; 17:37 GMT+2\u2022Updated 18:13 Half-term travel plans could be significantly hit as global airlines announce&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[20204,96446,72,139470,20670,61,151033,60,2521],"class_list":["post-434327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-airlines","tag-airplanes","tag-business","tag-civil-aviation","tag-fuel-crisis","tag-ie","tag-iran-war","tag-ireland","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434327","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=434327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}