Summer holidays up in the air as Europe braces for jet fuel shortage

Is it safer not to fly this summer? As the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt global oil markets, concerns are rising that Europe will run out of jet fuel weeks before the peak summer travel months. The clock started ticking in mid-April, when the head of the International Energy Agency warned Europe had “maybe six weeks of jet fuel left”. This week, Transavia became the latest airline – after Ryanair and Volotea – to announce it would cancel some European flights in May and June, citing the exorbitant cost of fuel and difficulties importing kerosene from Gulf countries. As peace talks between the US and Iran stall and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remain frozen, how likely is it that European flights will be grounded en masse this summer? And what can travellers do if their flights are cancelled? Read moreIran’s supreme leader tells US its only place in Persian Gulf is at ‘bottom of its waters’ Shortage fuelled by lack of imports For weeks the lack of oil and hydrocarbon imports from Gulf countries due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has fuelled speculation about an impending shortage of kerosene, a fuel