Major European airline axes 20,000 flights this summer amid rising jet fuel costs
Among flights cancelled are those from Frankfurt to Bydgoszcz and Rzeszów in Poland, as well as Stavanger in Norway
A major European airline has axed 20,000 flights this summer as the ongoing conflict with Iran drives up the costs of jet fuel.
Listen to this article
German-based Lufthansa announced that it has removed tens of thousands of "unprofitable" short-haul flights from its schedule through until October.
Among the journeys cancelled are those from Frankfurt to Bydgoszcz and Rzeszów in Poland, as well as Stavanger in Norway. The daily schedule has seen around 120 flights scrapped.
It anticipates that it will save 40,000 metric tons of jet fuel through these measures, adding that the price of fuel has doubled since the outbreak of the conflict with Iran.
Read more: UK inflation set to rise after Middle East conflict pushed up fuel prices
Read more: Which airlines are cancelling flights due to the jet fuel crisis?
Till Streichert, the CFO of Lufthansa Group, said that the company had "already identified the prospective removal of CityLine from our program as part of our strategic development for some time, independently of the current geopolitical crisis".
"The current crisis is now forcing us to implement this measure earlier. This is a painful step, particularly with regard to the colleagues at Lufthansa CityLine."
Passengers will still be able to access the long-haul flights from the company, which it says have been made more efficient due to the increase in fuel prices.
The news comes as it was announced that UK inflation lifted to its highest since December after a sharp jump in diesel and petrol prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
The rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation increased to 3.3 per cent in March from 3 per cent in February, the Office for National Statistics said.
The increase was in line with predictions from economists.
Higher motor fuel was the main driver of the acceleration in inflation, increasing by 8.7 per cet month-on-month – the largest increase since June 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The ONS found that the average price of petrol rose by 8.6p per litre between February and March to 140.2p per litre. This marked the highest price since August 2024.
Diesel prices meanwhile increased by 17.6p per litre in March to an average of 158.7p per litre, the highest price since November 2023.