Despite truce, airlines fear long-term disruptions

Buffeted by six weeks of war in the Middle East, airlines have scrambled to trim routes and costs as fuel bills explode and wary clients think twice about their travel plans, a situation that could persist even if a fragile truce holds.

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Passengers look at an information board at the EasyJet check-in counter at Orly Airport in Paris. - AFP

(AFP)

Carriers have largely halted flights in the Gulf region, with Air France announcing this week that it was extending its suspensions until May 3 - a decision a source said was made before this week’s ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

With no certainty that jet fuel prices will return to prewar lows, chief executives are having to rethink expansion plans and plane orders.

"The airline sector is being hit with two simultaneous shocks: the steep rise in fuel prices, which is the biggest or second-biggest expense for a carrier, and a demand shock, with passengers deciding to wait and see," said Paul Chiambaretto, a professor and aviation expert at the Montpellier Business School in France.

Jet fuel, which cost around $830 a ton before the war erupted, surpassed $1,800 a ton in early April, and was still at $1,786 on Wednesday. "It’s absolutely colossal," Pascal de Izaguirre, president of the French aviation federation (FNAM), told business daily La Tribune.