Jet fuel shortage threatens millions of flights with cancellation as UK staycation demand surges
Demand for staycations is expected to surge this summer as Brits are expected to abandon holidays abroad amid fears over the impact of the Iran war on travel.
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Fears of jet fuel shortages or high ticket prices amid the tense situation in the Middle East are expected to trigger a wave of bookings for UK-based summer holidays.
Last week, the Prime Minister warned Brits that they may have to change where they go on holiday as the Iran war continues to have an impact on the economy.
Read More: Government reveals new airline rule to prevent cancelled flights this summer
Raoul Fraser, the chief executive of holiday park operator Lovat, said his company's website had seen a surge in traffic following warnings of jet fuel shortages, with bookings already up by more than 30 per cent this year.
“It is definitely having a positive impact for us,” he said, adding the present situation was "a little bit like Covid, when people couldn’t get away and now they just want the certainty of a nice holiday in the UK.”
Resort company Butlin's, based in Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness, has also seen “strong growth for the summer school holidays”, according to its chief executive Jon Hendry Pickup.
“Normally, we get somewhere in the region of 15 per cent to 20 per cent of people booking a holiday in the last four weeks before they come. Now it is roughly double that,” he said.
The Department for Transport unveiled measures on Sunday to allow airlines to group passengers from different flights onto fewer planes used on under-booked journeys, in a bid to limit the impact of fuel shortages on summer holidays.
Airlines will also be allowed to cancel flights without running the risk of losing their allocated “slots” – scheduled times for take-off or landing which some UK airports assign to airlines – if fuel shortages prevent them from flying.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said there were "no immediate supply issues, but we're preparing now to give families long-term certainty and avoid unnecessary disruption at the departure gate this summer".
She said: "This legislation will give airlines the tools to adjust flights in good time if they need to, which helps protect passengers and businesses."
However many airlines have expressed uncertainty about the potential impact of shortages on flights.
Last week Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary warned that the UK was the most exposed country in Europe to shortages because of its reliance on Kuwait for a quarter of jet fuel imports.
He said: “Of all the European countries at the moment, the one that is most vulnerable is the UK because of the market share that the Kuwaitis have here."
His intervention followed warnings that rising jet fuel costs could pour cold water on summer holiday plans, with the EU previously stating that it's "very likely people's holidays will be affected" either by sky-high prices or cancellations.
It echoed concerns raised by the boss of the International Energy Agency (IEA), who warned in mid-April that Europe had just six weeks’ supply of jet fuel left because of the Middle East conflict.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, warned there could be flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies remain restricted by the Iran war.
If the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, the impact on Europe may be that “some of the flights from city A to city B might be cancelled as a result of lack of jet fuel”, he added.