Lufthansa cuts 20,000 summer flights as Iran war drives up fuel costs

German airline says soaring jet fuel prices have made many European short-haul routes unprofitable, with passengers facing refunds, rebookings and the prospect of further cuts later this month

Lufthansa is cutting 20,000 short-haul flights across Europe this summer, saying soaring fuel costs linked to the war involving Iran have made many routes unprofitable.

The German airline said the reductions would save about 40,000 metric tonnes of jet fuel, with most of the cuts coming through the closure of its CityLine service.

Flights to and from Heringsdorf, Cork, Gdańsk, Ljubljana, Rijeka, Sibiu, Stuttgart, Trondheim, Tivat and Wrocław will be suspended temporarily.

Affected passengers will either be refunded or rebooked on other group airlines – including SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and ITA Airways – where possible.

Lufthansa said some of the cuts could become permanent and that it was reviewing its wider European schedule, with more detail due later this month.

Passengers will continue to have access to its wider global network, particularly long-haul routes, but that this would now be achieved “significantly more efficiently than before”, the carrier said.

The move comes as airlines across Europe and beyond come under pressure from a sharp rise in jet fuel prices since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran. The conflict has hit production and transport routes across the Middle East, a key source of aviation fuel for Europe.

The Gulf supplies about half of Europe’s jet fuel imports, much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed in response to US and Israeli attacks.

Several airlines, including Air France-KLM and Delta, have already cut some services or raised fares, while analysts have warned passengers to expect further price rises and more cancellations if the conflict drags on.

The International Energy Agency warned last week that Europe could run short of jet fuel within weeks, although the UK government and airlines have said they are not yet seeing an immediate disruption to supply.

The European Union said on Wednesday it would set up a fuel observatory to monitor production, imports, exports and stock levels of transport fuels in an effort to spot potential shortages earlier.

The latest announcement follows an earlier decision by the airline to accelerate the closure of CityLine, retiring 27 aircraft because of what it described as significantly higher fuel prices and added pressure from labour disputes.

READ MORE: Middle East tensions expose Europe’s energy vulnerability as flexibility reshapes clean energy investment. The latest tensions in the Middle East have delivered another warning to Europe about the fragility of fossil-fuel dependence and the strategic urgency of the energy transition. In this exclusive analysis, The smarter E Europe sets out why flexibility is becoming a key factor in future clean-energy investment.

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_{Main image: Lufthansa has announced 20,000 short-haul flight cuts across Europe this summer after fuel costs surged in the wake of the Iran conflict, with further timetable changes under review. Photo: TJDarmstadt/CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.}