An aviation expert has warned holidaymakers heading to Europe this summer to have a ‘plan B and a plan C’ amid fears of a jet fuel crisis
Holidaymakers heading to Europe this summer have been warned to have a “plan B and a plan C” amid fears of a jet fuel crisis.
Aviation expert John Gradek has warned that “all of Europe is going to be affected by this shortage of aviation fuel” due to the war in the Middle East.
“I think it’s going to get worse before it gets any better,” Gradek told Canadian network CTV on the ‘Your Morning’ show on Wednesday. “You’ll have short-haul flights being cancelled, long-haul flights will be rationed for fuel. So it’ll be a little bit of chaos this summer in the EU.”
Gradek, who is a faculty lecturer at McGill University, said that all travellers should be aware that they may have to look at alternative ways of getting home.
“I think that if you are planning trips into Europe – and it doesn’t really matter where in Europe, I think all of Europe is going to be affected by this shortage of aviation fuel – that you’re going to be in a situation of making sure you have a plan B and a plan C,” Gradek said.
“You may have to, you know, motor it, or you may have to basically look at alternative ways of getting home.”
It comes as airlines across Europe cancel routes and adjust prices to manage higher operating costs. The chief of the International Energy Agency said last week that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of remaining jet fuel supplies, warning of flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies remain blocked.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced”, stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. Around 20 per cent of the world’s oil and natural gas passes through the critical waterway.
“In the past there was a group called ‘Dire Straits’. It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world,” he told The Associated Press.
