The US launched Operation Project Freedom on 4 May to escort merchant ships out of the Gulf, then paused it on 6 May citing "great progress" in talks with Iran.

Baker Hughes is now operating on the assumption the Strait won't fully reopen until the second half of 2026, and a Dallas Fed survey found nearly 80% of oil and gas executives expect August or later.

Given that fuel accounts for nearly a third of what it costs to run an airline, carriers have been left with a brutal choice: pass the costs on to passengers, or start cancelling flights altogether.

Most are doing both, and with May half-term now in play, the disruption is hitting one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, airlines have so far cancelled around 13,000 flights worldwide from May schedules, including 1,468 from the UK's biggest airports.

The biggest casualty so far came on 2 May, when Spirit Airlines ceased all operations at 3am EST after a $500 million federal bailout collapsed in last-minute talks.

It's the first major US airline to shut down due to financial trouble in 25 years, and the clearest sign yet that "systemic" disruption.

With approximately 75% of Europe's supply flowing through the now-disrupted Strait, the bloc is particularly exposed and analysts have cautioned that the cuts so far could be just the opening act of a deeper summer disruption.

In the UK, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has temporarily suspended the "use it or lose it" airport slot rule, meaning carriers can cut flights without losing slots to rivals.

Here's every airline that has confirmed action so far.

Aegean Airlines Greece's national carrier has warned of a 'notable impact' on its first-quarter results following suspended Middle East routes and the fuel price spike.

AirAsia X The Malaysian long-haul budget airline has cut 10% of its May flights and slapped roughly a 20% fuel surcharge on ticket prices.

Air Canada Canada's biggest carrier is dropping four of its 38 daily New York flights between 1 June and 25 October 2026. It has also suspended a planned international route between Guadalajara and Montréal, and is axing domestic flights between Fort McMurray and Vancouver from 28 May. In a statement, the airline said: "Jet fuel prices have doubled since the start of the Iran conflict, affecting some lower profitability routes and flights, which are now no longer economically feasible. Schedule adjustments, including some frequency reductions, are being made in response."

Air China Air China has confirmed cuts to both domestic and international flights in response to the fuel surge, though specific affected routes have not yet been disclosed.

Air France-KLM Air France is adding €50 (around £43) per round trip on long-haul fares. Dutch arm KLM has cancelled 160 European flights this month, describing a growing number of its routes as no longer financially worth operating given current kerosene prices. KLM has also confirmed that flights to Dubai, Riyadh, and Dammam remain cancelled until at least 28 June.

Air India The carrier has ditched its flat domestic fuel surcharge in favour of a distance-based system. It has acknowledged that existing international surcharges are simply not keeping pace with the scale of the price rise.

Air New Zealand Air NZ has cut around 1,100 flights through to early May, raised fares, and pulled its full-year earnings guidance entirely. A second wave of cuts has now been confirmed for late June through July, with 44 return flights from Tauranga and 70 from Nelson being removed between 29 June and 26 July.

Air Transat The Canadian carrier, which specialises in flights from Canada to Europe, the Caribbean, and Mexico, is slashing its schedule by 6% between May and October. Several of its most popular routes, including to the Caribbean and Cuba, will be affected through the end of the summer season.

Akasa Air India's Akasa has introduced domestic and international fuel surcharges ranging from 199 to 1,300 Indian rupees (roughly £2–£12) depending on the route.

Alaska Air Checked bag fees are up, around £4 more on the first bag, £8 more on the second for North American flights, and the third bag has jumped from around £37 to £150. The airline has also withdrawn its full-year profit forecast.

American Airlines First and second checked bags now cost around £8 more each, while the fee for a third bag has shot up by roughly £115 on domestic and short-haul international flights. The carrier had already flagged an expected £305m rise in first-quarter costs due to fuel.

Asiana Airlines The South Korean carrier is cutting 22 flights between April and July.

British Airways Parent group IAG issued a profit warning on 8 May, announcing its annual fuel bill will hit around €9 billion this year — roughly €2 billion higher than 2025. The group is 70% hedged for the rest of 2026 and expects to recover around 60% of the increased fuel costs through pricing, cost controls and capacity management, but full-year profit, free cash flow and capacity will all come in below previous guidance. BA is raising premium-cabin fares to help offset the hit, and has redeployed capacity from Gulf routes to destinations including Bangkok, Singapore and the Maldives. CEO Luis Gallego said the group sees no current issue with fuel availability in its main markets.

Cathay Pacific Around 2% of scheduled passenger flights are being cancelled between 16 May and 30 June. Budget subsidiary HK Express is cutting around 6% of its schedule from 11 May. Services to Dubai and Riyadh remain suspended until at least 30 June. The airline raised fuel surcharges by 34% across all routes from 1 April, and is reviewing them every two weeks.

Cebu Air The Philippines-based carrier has flagged the fuel spike as a major concern and says it's actively reviewing its pricing and network.

China Eastern Airlines The airline has introduced domestic fuel surcharges from 5 April — 60 yuan (around £6) on flights under 800km, and 120 yuan (around £13) on longer domestic routes.

Frontier Airlines Reviewing its full-year forecast after fuel prices moved significantly since its last guidance was published.

Delta Air Lines Delta is cutting planned capacity by around 3.5 percentage points and has raised checked bag fees. All planned capacity growth for the current quarter has been shelved, and the airline has declined to update its full-year outlook until the fuel situation becomes clearer. Routes from New York to Memphis, St Louis and Houston are suspended until 8 September, with Detroit to Sacramento cancelled until March 2027, and Boston to Nassau axed until September.

EasyJet The budget carrier is bracing for a first-half pre-tax loss of between £540m and £560m which includes £25m in additional fuel costs from March alone. The airline is 70% hedged on summer fuel at $706 per metric tonne, with every $100 movement in prices equating to around £40m of costs in the second half. CEO Kenton Jarvis has warned that prices will "start feeding through to the consumer towards the back end of the summer" as current hedges expire.

Greater Bay Airlines Fuel surcharges are up on most routes from 1 April. The surcharge on Hong Kong–Philippines flights will more than double, while mainland China and Japan routes are unaffected.

Hong Kong Airlines Surcharges up by as much as 35% from 12 March, with the biggest increases on routes to the Maldives, Bangladesh, and Nepal, where charges have risen from HK$284 to HK$384 (roughly £29 to £38).

IndiGo India's biggest airline introduced fuel charges on domestic and international flights from 14 March, including 900 rupees (around £8) on Middle East routes and 2,300 rupees (around £21) on European ones.

JetBlue Airways The US low-cost carrier has raised optional fees, including baggage charges, by between £3 and £7. CEO Joanna Geraghty has publicly ruled out a bankruptcy filing in 2026, moving to quash speculation after JetBlue's founder suggested the airline could go under. The carrier has secured £380m in debt financing backed by aircraft, with an option to raise a further £190m.

Korean Air South Korea's flag carrier officially entered emergency management mode from April, with Vice Chairman Woo Kee-hong warning staff that if high oil prices persist, the damage to annual business targets would be severe. The airline had budgeted for fuel at around $2.20 per gallon, however they're now paying closer to $4.50. Phased cost-efficiency measures are being rolled out across the business.

Nigerian Airlines The Airline Operators of Nigeria had threatened to ground all domestic flight operations from 20 April, with carriers stating that soaring fuel costs had made services financially unsustainable. A shutdown was narrowly avoided after Nigeria's Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo intervened and called for emergency talks. The suspension of the planned action is conditional on the outcome of those discussions.

Norse Atlantic The Norwegian budget carrier has permanently cancelled its London Gatwick to Los Angeles route, citing the fuel price surge.

Pakistan International Airlines Domestic fares are up around £15 and international fares have risen by up to £75, with the airline attributing the increases to higher fuel surcharges.

Lufthansa The German giant has made the biggest single call of any carrier so far, cancelling 20,000 short-haul flights through to October — equivalent to roughly 40,000 metric tonnes of jet fuel. In a statement on 21 April, the carrier confirmed the price of kerosene "has doubled since the outbreak of the Iran conflict." The cuts centre on its regional subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine, which is being permanently wound down along with its entire fleet of 27 aircraft. Around 120 daily cancellations are already in place through end of May, with routes from Frankfurt to Bydgoszcz, Rzeszów, and Stavanger dropped entirely. A further ten routes are being rerouted through other group hubs. The cuts span all six Lufthansa Group hubs: Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, and Rome. Lufthansa now estimates the kerosene price surge will add €1.7 billion (around $2 billion) to its 2026 cost base, despite the group being roughly 80% hedged on fuel for the year. It's worth noting that an extended series of labour strikes involving pilots, cabin crew, and ground staff also played a role in accelerating the decision to close CityLine.

Qantas Airways Australia's national carrier has delayed a planned A$150m (around £75m) share buyback and warned that surging jet fuel prices will add A$600m–A$800m to its bill, lifting estimated H2 FY26 fuel costs to A$3.1bn–A$3.3bn (roughly £1.55bn–£1.65bn). The group is around 90% hedged on crude oil but largely exposed to refining margins, which have spiked from around US$20 per barrel in February to a peak of around US$120. From 18 May, the airline is cutting 88 flights from its Melbourne–Sydney service, 50 from Sydney–Brisbane, and 31 from Brisbane–Melbourne, with further disruption expected on Perth–Sydney, Melbourne–Adelaide and Brisbane–Adelaide routes through June. Qantas has also redeployed capacity from US and domestic routes to add more flights to Paris and Rome.

SAS The Scandinavian carrier has cancelled almost 1,200 flights scheduled for May, following several hundred cuts in March.

Southwest Airlines Checked bag fees are up around £8 on both first and second bags.

Spirit Airlines In the most dramatic development of the crisis so far, Spirit Airlines ceased all operations at 3am EST on 2 May after an 11th-hour $500m federal bailout collapsed when a key group of creditors balked at the proposal. It's the first major US airline to shut down due to financial trouble in 25 years. The carrier's restructuring plan had assumed jet fuel costs of around $2.24 a gallon in 2026, but prices had climbed to roughly $4.51 by the end of April. Around 17,000 jobs have been lost, including 14,000 Spirit employees plus thousands of contractors. Customers with valid tickets are being issued refunds and have been told not to come to the airport. United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest are offering capped "rescue fares" of around $200 one-way to help stranded Spirit passengers rebook.

Spring Airlines The Chinese budget carrier is raising domestic fuel surcharges from 5 April.

SunExpress The Lufthansa–Turkish Airlines joint venture is adding a temporary €10 (around £9) per passenger surcharge on Turkey to mainland Europe routes from 1 May, applying to bookings made from 1 April onwards. This applies only to flights between Turkey and mainland Europe, not Europe in general.

TAP Air Portugal The Portuguese carrier has acknowledged that planned fare increases will only partially cover the fuel cost impact on revenues.

Thai Airways Fares are going up by 10–15% across the network, and Thai Airways International has reduced or cancelled flights across 46 routes in Asia and Europe for May.

TUI Europe's biggest tour operator has cut its profit forecast and suspended revenue guidance entirely. TUI, which operates its own fleet, is 83% hedged on jet fuel for the summer though its shares have still fallen 25% over the past three months.

Turkish Airlines Has opted not to pay out any dividend from its 2025 profits, choosing instead to hold on to cash. The carrier has also cancelled more than 3,000 flights, according to Cirium data — some routes suspended between May and June 2026, with others potentially not operating until late October 2026 or March next year.

T'Way Air The South Korean low-cost carrier has announced plans to furlough cabin crew without pay in May and June.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has said the airline is planning on oil prices staying above $100 per barrel until the end of 2027, and is cutting unprofitable routes across the next two quarters accordingly — including services to Europe, Japan and the Middle East that could affect May holidays. Checked bag fees are up around £8 for first and second bags on US, Mexico, Canada, and Latin America routes. United says it has so far managed to pass fare increases on to customers without significantly denting bookings.

VietJet The Vietnamese budget carrier has reduced flight frequency on selected routes in May and June due to concerns over potential fuel shortages.

Vietnam Airlines Cancelling 23 domestic flights per week from April, and has formally asked the Vietnamese government to remove an environmental tax on jet fuel.

Virgin Atlantic Fuel surcharges are being added to fares, but CEO Corneel Koster has acknowledged the airline will struggle to turn a profit this year regardless.

Virgin Australia Expecting an additional A$23m–A$30m (roughly £12m–£15m) in fuel costs in the second half of its fiscal year, alongside a 1% cut in capacity in the fourth quarter.

Volotea The Spanish low-cost airline has introduced what it calls its "Fair Travel Promise," a pricing model that directly links ticket prices to fuel costs and applies to bookings made from 16 March 2026 onwards. Seven days before departure, Volotea reviews fuel prices and, if necessary, adjusts the ticket by up to €9 (around £8) per passenger per flight — refunding the difference if prices fall. The post-purchase nature of the surcharge has drawn passenger backlash and attention from EU regulators.

WestJet The Canadian carrier has cut seat capacity for June and is adding a C$60 (around £33) fuel surcharge to certain bookings, while also consolidating some flights.

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