Influenced by the Middle East situation, international oil prices have been hovering at high levels. To cope with the rise in aviation fuel prices, multiple airline operators including United Airlines and Air New Zealand have announced reductions in the number of scheduled flights.
Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, stated on the 20th that the company will cut 5% of its scheduled flights in the second and third quarters to address the surge in aviation fuel costs caused by high oil prices. On November 7, 2025, a United Airlines aircraft prepared to land at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, USA. (Photo by Hu Yousong, Xinhua News Agency)
In a memo to company employees, he said that United Airlines is preparing for oil prices to rise to as high as $175 per barrel and remain above $100 per barrel until the end of 2027. If this scenario occurs, United Airlines' annual aviation fuel expenditure alone will increase by $11 billion, which is more than double the profit of its best-performing year.
According to a Reuters report on the 20th, since the end of February, aviation fuel prices have nearly doubled, driving up costs across the industry. Additionally, route adjustments and airspace restrictions have disrupted flight patterns in the global aviation industry.
Kirby recently stated that if fuel costs remain persistently high, airlines would rather forgo some business demand than operate unprofitable routes.
The Chicago-based airline operator had previously reduced some flights with lower passenger traffic. In the memo, Kirby said that United Airlines will cancel approximately 3% of off-peak flights in the second and third quarters, including red-eye flights and midweek flights with lower passenger traffic. Furthermore, the company will reduce operating capacity at Chicago O'Hare Airport by about 1% and continue to suspend flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, and Dubai, UAE, bringing this year's capacity reduction to approximately 5% of the originally planned operating capacity.
As early as the 12th of this month, Air New Zealand announced that it would cut around 1,100 flights by early May, affecting about 5% of the airline's domestic and international scheduled flights and impacting approximately 44,000 passengers. This is a file photo of an Air New Zealand aircraft taken at Wellington Airport (taken on October 30, 2018). (Photo by Guo Lei, Xinhua News Agency)
Nikhil Ravishankar, CEO of the airline, said in an interview with a New Zealand news program that "the affordability of air travel has indeed become a challenge," and the flight reductions will focus on off-peak flights.
Scandinavian Airlines was also one of the first airlines to cut scheduled flights due to rising fuel prices, announcing on the 17th that it would reduce 1,000 scheduled flights in April. The company stated in an email: "The entire European aviation industry is currently feeling the pressure from the sudden fuel shock."
Vietnamese authorities have reminded the country's aviation industry to prepare for possible flight reductions starting in April due to the increasing risk of fuel supply shortages.
Delta Air Lines stated that if fuel prices remain high, the company has the ability to "flexibly adjust capacity."
Fuel costs are one of the major expenses for airlines. Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, said that in March alone, the rise in aviation fuel prices increased the airline's operating costs by $400 million. American Airlines estimates that due to the rise in aviation fuel prices, the airline's first-quarter expenses will increase by $400 million. This is the interior of the waiting hall at Dubai International Airport in the UAE, taken on March 7. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency)
To cope with the rise in aviation fuel prices, airlines such as Qantas, Scandinavian Airlines, Air New Zealand, Air France-KLM, and Air India have raised ticket prices or fuel surcharges. Some airlines, due to hedging measures that lock in part of their fuel demand at fixed prices, have not yet faced severe cost increases. However, if the conflict persists, they are bound to encounter difficulties.
According to Reuters, over the past 20 years, U.S. airlines have largely stopped fuel hedging operations. Scandinavian Airlines stated last year that it had not hedged its fuel consumption for the next 12 months.
John Grady, a lecturer in aviation management at McGill University in Canada, said, "When you see oil prices spike by 30%... it immediately affects the profitability of every flight operated by the airline." Ticket price increases will affect travel demand, and airlines will first cut or merge flights, then reduce services such as beverages and meals, and finally begin grounding flights. "If this situation continues for a few more weeks, we are not far from that point."