Fears grow for summer holidays as Europe’s jet fuel supplies run low

Holidaymakers could be in for a difficult summer.

- Gwyn Topham

The legacies of Brexit mean longer border checks for Brits to get into much of Europe, and the US-Israel war on Iran has sparked fears that airlines may not have enough jet fuel for every scheduled flight.Confusion still surrounds the exact status of the EU’s new entry-exit system (EES), which in theory should now be taking biometric data - fingerprints and photographs - from every applicable visitor, after the deadline for full implementation passed on 10 April.

Meanwhile, some airlines and industry leaders have warned of fuel surcharges and the potential cancellation of flights by the end of the summer should the strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas exports would normally flow, not fully reopen.

As far as jet fuel supply goes, forecasts remain entirely dependent on whether the current fragile ceasefire persists and if shipments of jet fuel start leaving the Gulf unimpeded and remain that way.

Nerves will not have been helped by warnings from the International Energy Agency that Europe has only six weeks’ supply of jet fuel left before shortages hit. Hopes were revived yesterday after Iran’s foreign minister said Hormuz would be completely open for the duration of a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon. Oil prices started to fall, but all depends on whether the ceasefire holds, and what happens after that.