Overview
- Airlines, which gained new UK flexibility on Sunday, have already pulled about two million seats and more than 13,000 May flights, and Heathrow has lost 111 services, according to Cirium and airport schedules.
- The Department for Transport measure lets carriers cancel or merge services in advance while keeping airport slots so they can move booked passengers onto fewer planes and conserve fuel.
- Ministers and airlines report no immediate supply gaps for the next six to eight weeks, yet the IEA and Goldman Sachs warn stocks in Europe, especially the UK, could reach critically low levels by June.
- Travelers may face earlier rebookings, fewer daily departures and higher fares, and consumer group Which? says the policy tilts toward airlines and could weaken compensation.
- The squeeze stems from the Strait of Hormuz staying closed by the US–Iran war, which has choked off key jet-fuel shipments to Europe, doubled prices and exposed the UK’s lack of reserves and reduced refinery capacity.