UK airlines given green light to cancel or consolidate flights to conserve jet fuel

UK airlines will be able to cancel or consolidate flights this summer under new plans to conserve jet fuel as the war in the Middle East continues to disrupt supplies.

The measures are being taken to avoid major disruption as Britons jet off on their summer holidays. Airlines are looking carefully at their timetables to see which flights can be cancelled in advance and cause the least delays.

New legislation would allow for actions such as consolidating schedules on routes where there are multiple flights to the same place on the same day, which could be put in place to stop last-minute cancellations, the government announced on Sunday.

The changes will allow airlines to give back a limited proportion of their allocated takeoff and landing slots without losing the right to operate them the following season. Usually, cancelling these puts airlines at risk of losing the slots, meaning sometimes they run half-empty planes in order to keep the right to use them.

Airlines will be cancelling flights well in advance if there is a jet fuel shortage, meaning passengers can be moved on to similar services much earlier.

If flights have not sold a significant proportion of tickets, these may also be cancelled in order to prevent wasting fuel from running near-empty planes, say ministers. Under the plans, flights will have to be cancelled at least two weeks in advance.

Rob Bishton, the chief executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “Relaxing the rules around slots at airports will allow airlines more flexibility and so we expect them to give passengers as much notice as possible of cancellations during this period.”

The plans were hatched at a meeting last Thursday between the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, and representatives from Heathrow and Gatwick airports, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and easyJet.

The strait of Hormuz, a key artery for oil and gas, has been closed in effect since the beginning of March, causing an energy crisis in many countries and leading European states to fear jet fuel shortages. According to some calculations, there are just a few weeks of jet fuel supplies left in Europe. The UK is exposed to this as it imports about 65% of the jet fuel it uses, much of which comes from the Middle East.

Alexander said: “There are no immediate supply issues, but we’re preparing now to give families long-term certainty and avoid unnecessary disruption at the departure gate this summer.