From 29m agoIntroduction: EU sees no jet fuel shortage amid price surge, transport chief saysGood morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.With summer approaching, holidaymakers have been growing nervous that the Middle East crisis might leave airlines short of fuel.But despite the lack of progress to reopen the strait of Hormuz, the European Union’s transport chief has insisted there are no signs of jet fuel shortages in Europe in the coming months.Transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas has told Reuters:
double quotation mark“There is currently no jet fuel shortage in Europe. We have no signs that we will have a shortage in the coming period.”
Tzitzikostas pointed out that current high jet fuel prices have prompted airlines to cut uneconomic routes (an example of the demand destruction created by high energy costs), saying:
double quotation mark“This is why we see that some airlines are choosing to cancel some of their routes that didn’t make any economic sense.”
In May, airlines cut two million airline seats from their schedules, or less than 2% of global aviation capacity.Looking further ahead, Tzitzikostas suggested that the situation would be “very difficult” by the end of the year if Middle Eastern supplies remained disrupted.
