Europe has ‘six weeks of fuel left’ as airline takes £25m hit

EasyJet announced this week that the conflict in the Middle East cost it about a quarter of £100m in higher jet fuel prices last month.

The Luton-based airline said it expects to report a headline loss before tax of between £540 million and £560 million for the six months to the end of March.

Oil prices, which have a significant effect on the cost of jet fuel, soared in response to Iran’s stranglehold on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

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The war has introduced “near-term uncertainty around fuel costs and customer demand”, easyJet reported.

Bookings are down two percentage points for the three months to the end of both June and September compared with a year ago.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), warned there could be flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies remain restricted by the Iran war.

Iran continues to have a stranglehold on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr Birol told the Associated Press that this is causing “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced”.

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He said Asian countries such as Japan, India and China that rely on energy from the Middle East are on “the front line”, but pressure will then “come to Europe and the Americas”.

Europe has “maybe six weeks or so (of) jet fuel left”, he warned, and if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened, there may be an impact on UK flights.

He added, “some of the flights from city A to city B might be cancelled as a result of a lack of jet fuel”, which would see some Oxfordshire residents with holidays booked affected.

These wider oil issues also hit Oxfordshire in the past few weeks, with residents reporting fuel pumps out of service in the county.

This newspaper approached several supermarket brands to see how Oxfordshire stores’ petrol stations have been affected.

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Asda was one of those contacted, but the supermarket giant refused to comment on the situation at this time.

When approached, Morrisons informed this newspaper that MFG owns and operates all of the chain’s fuel stations.

MFG then refused to comment at this time when subsequently contacted.

Sainsbury’s issued a comment, which referred to the stores across the UK as a whole, informing drivers that sites would be resupplied if shortages occurred.

A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said: “We are actively monitoring stock levels in all locations and continuing to resupply sites where needed.”