Watch: Why the fuel crisis might ground your summer vacation flights?

Published on 23/04/2026 - 11:45 GMT+2

While the European Commission tones down warnings from vigor experts, the airlines are telling a antithetic story.

Scandinavian Airlines has cancelled astir a 1000 departures; Lufthansa has followed suit by axing 20,000 routes, and Air France-KLM is slapping a €100 surcharge connected long-distance tickets.

EU refineries relationship for astir 70% of the 27-member bloc's pitchy fuel, with the remainder usually imported from the Middle East. However, with the Strait of Hormuz closed, the disruption to planetary lipid transit drove pitchy substance prices to doubly their erstwhile levels.

Last week, the International Energy Agency warned that Europe has astir six weeks of proviso left, which could pb to formation cancellations.

The European Commission argues that formation cancellations are not related to shortages but alternatively to the airlines' ain deficiency of profitability.

However, to beryllium connected the harmless side, it launched AccelerateEU, a program to coordinate exigency substance supplies and guarantee subordinate states commencement sharing what's near successful their tanks.

The EU is besides eyeing caller imports from the US. However, US pitchy substance follows somewhat antithetic chemic standards.

The European Commission is trying to support Europeans calm, but the proposal from EU transport ministers — who gathered up of this week’s acme successful Cyprus — is simply a spot of a climb: they are suggesting Europeans 'neutralise demand' by switching to nationalist transport and electrical bikes.

It is simply a noble idea, but you cannot precisely thrust an e-bike from Brussels to Ibiza, tin you?

The vigor situation statement is apt to beryllium held contiguous and time astatine an informal acme of EU leaders successful Cyprus. I conscionable wonderment however they program to get there.

Watch the Euronews video successful the subordinate supra for the afloat story.