Flight cancellations due to the Middle East fuel crisis are still subject to European laws on compensating passengers, European Union authorities have warned. EU guidance published on 8 May, specifies that “Passengers affected by cancellations continue to benefit from air passenger rights. They are entitled to reimbursement, re-routing, or return, assistance at the airport and compensation for last-minute cancellations.”
Speaking to the Financial Times, the EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said neither jet fuel costs nor supply issues fall under the criteria that would exempt airlines from having to honour passenger protections. “The price of jet fuel is the reason why we have cancellations of flights and if they cancel flights without extraordinary circumstances – jet fuel prices are not extraordinary circumstances – they will have to reimburse the people,” the commissioner said.
In Brussels, we brought together air traffic management stakeholders, airlines, manufacturers and European institutions to discuss how we can better support the future of European aviation.
— Apostolos Tzitzikostas (@tzitzikostas) May 6, 2026
We exchanged views on the modernisation of air traffic management in Europe, including… pic.twitter.com/awZ9HTe7L7
The guidance adopted by the EU makes clear the rules around those exceptions. “Airlines may only be exempt from paying financial compensation if they can prove that the cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances, such as a local fuel shortage. The Commission considers that high fuel prices should not be considered as constituting extraordinary circumstance,” it states.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, has already said it has hedged its fuel supply sufficiently to avoid cancellations. But other airlines claim their bottom lines are suffering the consequences of the Strait of Hormuz blockade that followed the US-Israel war on Iran. That financial imperative has led to the cancellation of around two million flights since the end of April, including by big European players such as Lufthansa and Ryanair’s Irish rival Aer Lingus. And over in the United States, where hedging is less common, the demise of Spirit Airlines is widely seen as having been hastened by the geopolitical situation.
AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes told the same outlet the crisis is “much worse” than the effect of COVID-19 on the aviation sector. “I thought I’d seen it all with Covid … but having seen jet fuel go up almost three times – this is much worse,” he said.
The International Energy Agency has warned that fuel supplies in the bloc could run out in six weeks. While Tzitzikostas has acknowledged the “situation is tight”, he insisted the Commission is not currently considering a change to existing customer protections and airline obligations. “We have a tourist season ahead of us. We need to be careful with words we use and avoid causing panic,” he said.
