Jet Fuel Shortages Could Make Travel a ‘Total Mess’ This Summer

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Jet Fuel Shortages Could Make Travel a ‘Total Mess’ This Summer

Facing sky-high fuel costs linked to the war in Iran, airlines are cutting routes and raising prices. European vacations are looking a lot less affordable.

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The German airline Lufthansa cut nearly 20,000 flights over the next six months to conserve jet fuel, which could begin to run low in Europe as soon as next month.

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Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By

Christine Chung

April 24, 2026,

4:01 p.m. ET

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This summer is shaping up to be an expensive and uncertain time to fly, especially if you’re planning a European vacation.

Volatile fuel prices because of the war in Iran are straining airlines around the globe, but perhaps nowhere as much as in Europe, where jet fuel supplies could run low by mid-May. European airlines like Lufthansa and KLM have announced they are cutting flights, and others could follow.

Carriers everywhere are increasingly passing costs on to passengers wherever they can by raising airfares,

charging more for bags

and tacking on additional charges for fuel. Some are canceling flights.

For travelers, the prospect of a reasonably priced summer vacation is growing dimmer by the day.

“There is a level of uncertainty here that we have not seen since Covid when it comes to travel,” said Katy Nastro, a travel expert at

Going.com

, a membership service for finding cheap flights, adding, “This will be a challenging year for the average traveler hoping to take an affordable summer vacation.”

Cutting Capacity

U.S. airfares — both domestic and international — have continued to climb since the war began at the end of February, according to an analysis of economy round-trip tickets by the

travel search engine Kayak

. On April 13, an average international trip cost $1,064, compared with $776 on Feb. 23, and a domestic U.S. trip cost $358, compared with $335 on Feb. 23.

Global prices of jet fuel have soared by more than 70 percent since the start of the war, according to the

Platts Jet Fuel Price Index

. This situation has U.S. carriers expecting to spend

billions extra on fuel

this year, and at least one, Spirit Airlines, already in bankruptcy, has

asked the government for a bailout

. Jet fuel is one of the largest operating costs for airlines.

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