Book your summer season flights now or face hovering costs, journey specialists warn as long-haul flights rise £300 in jet gas disaster

Travel experts are urging Brits to book their summer flights now or face soaring prices as the economic impact of the Iran war continues to bite. 

Airline tickets for long haul flights have already risen by an eye-watering £300 but experts are warning that short haul flights to destinations such as the sunny Mediterranean could rise within weeks.

While oil prices did fall yesterday after Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz is now ‘completely open’, Tehran has since announced the crucial waterway is once again shut after the US refused to lift what Iran describes as a naval blockade of its ports.

Since then at least two Indian merchant vessels reported being hit by gunfire as they attempted to pass through the narrow passage, sparking fears the fragile ceasefire could be in peril.

However, even if a deal is reached to reopen the strait, Dustin Benton, the managing director of Forefront Advisers, which advises airlines on policy, has warned that a number of factors would continue to affect the global supply chain of the crucial fuel.

Speaking to The Times, he said: ‘I don’t think the announcement changes the next six weeks to two months.

‘You can’t just snap your fingers and switch everything back on.’

Passengers have already seen rising fares since the start of Donald Trump’s war with Iran in February.

Airplanes parked on the tarmac of London’s Gatwick Airport. Travel experts are urging Brits to book their summer flights now or face soaring prices as the economic impact of the Iran war continues to bite

The conflict prompted Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for jet fuel out of the Gulf –  where 21million barrels of crude oil, petroleum and other energy sources passed through daily before the conflict started.

But Brits lucky enough to have already booked their summer getaways could still face travel disruption. 

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents more than 360 airlines, has warned passengers to expect flight cancellations in the May half-term holidays as flight disruption spread from Asia to Europe.

However, despite warnings from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that Europe faces possible jet fuel shortages in six weeks, experts have said they believe this will be ‘naturally’ by the lower demand, which means airlines will be able to consolidate schedules and run fewer flights on high-frequency routes.

No.10 have insisted they are doing everything necessary to prepare for jet fuel issues in the coming months.

A source told The Times that a team of officials has been created to handle contingency planning for jet fuel shortages –  which is being led by the Department for Transport and the Department for Net Zero –  and that plans are ready but ‘we’re not in a place of needing to activate them yet’.

The UK has since increased imports of jet fuel from outside the Middle East, but it is not believed to be enough to solve the future issues.

In total over 60 per cent of the country’s jet fuel imports come from the region. 

Sally Gethin, an aviation specialist, said the scale of the impact on air passengers will depend on how long the Strait remains closed.

‘Even if it opens you’d still need time for the jet fuel supplies to start up again,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘So the best case scenario would be fares going up and some routes being cancelled.

‘The worst case scenario is if this carries on for six to eight weeks and the shortages start really biting. This could pose an existential crisis to airlines – even if they slap on fuel surcharges they still won’t recoup the cost.

‘You could be looking at tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands, of flights being cancelled globally. It could affect holiday companies as well, although consumers will be protected if their trips are covered by ATOL.’

Ms Gethin predicted that smaller airports with less jet fuel storage would be hit hardest, while flights on routes that had only been recently launched by airlines were most liable to cancellation.

She suggested the end result of the jet fuel crisis could be a situation similar to the 1990s when air travel was more expensive and there are fewer low-fare airlines than today, although she stressed the situation was rapidly evolving and hard to predict.

In continental Europe, German carrier Lufthansa said today that a regional subsidiary, Lufthansa CityLine, will suspend operations from Saturday due to high kerosene prices and labour disputes.   

And Dutch airline KLM has cancelled 160 flights across the next month as a result of rising fuel costs.

Seven other airlines have announced cuts to flights so far. They are British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand and Norse Atlantic Airways.

Away from the nation’s plane runways, on Britain’s roads diesel and petrol prices remain high leading to growing concerns that the country could see fuel protests similar to those in Ireland last week.

It is understood that the Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering whether to delay the ending of the 5p cut in fuel duty, which was brought in after Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The cut to fuel duty had been due to be reduced from September.