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A major airline is canceling flights due to soaring fuel prices.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) said it will be canceling 1,000 flights in April due to the rising oil and jet fuel prices amid the conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We are canceling a couple of hundred flights during March, but are trying to protect our traffic as much as possible,” SAS CEO Anko van der Werff told Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Industri.
Most of the canceled flights in March were domestic routes in Norway, with a few affected Sweden and Denmark, according to a SAS statement to AFP.
“Given the ongoing situation in the Middle East, including the sharp and sudden increase in global fuel prices, we are taking measures to strengthen our resilience,” the statement said.
“One such measure is a limited number of short-term flight cancellations.”
Van der Werff said more cancellations are to be expected after Easter, when traffic normally decreases.
“For April it is about at least a thousand departures. But that should be compared to the fact that we have 800 flights per day, so these are not drastic measures,” he said.
Van der Werff noted that the airline had made the decision to cancel some departures in an effort to save money, and if the conflict goes on for a long time, they will have to raise prices.
The airline said that an average flight on SAS will cost 500 SEK ($53.45 USD) more per flight, while transatlantic flights will increase by about 2,700 SEK ($288.62 USD).
“The price of jet fuel has doubled in ten days. Although we are trying to absorb cost increases as much as we can, this is a shock that hits the aviation industry directly,” he said.
The first destinations to be cut are flights where there are same-day alternative connections, though the airline does not have a consolidated list of all cancelations on specific routes.
Affected customers are being informed by the airline and are being offered rebooked flights with different departures, SAS spokesperson Alexandra Lindgren Kaoukji told The Independent.
However, those who have already booked a ticket will not have to face retroactive price increases, van der Werff said.
“Our aim is always to provide clear information as early as possible and to offer practical same‑day alternatives wherever feasible,” she explained.
“The sharp increase in fuel costs is affecting the entire European aviation system, and we have therefore, as earlier communicated, also made certain price adjustments linked to the current fuel situation,” she continued.
“The level varies depending on the route, but the principle is the same as for other European airlines facing the same conditions.”
Lindgren Kaoukji noted that the decision to make what she called “short-term adjustments” was made in an effort to act early in response to a “global cost shock that is affecting the entire industry.”
