Another major airline is cancelling 1,000 flights due to soaring gas prices https://t.co/3pa1tZTcUu pic.twitter.com/nJYIz1Gors
— New York Post (@nypost) March 18, 2026
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.
airBaltic and others just pulled every flight to the Middle East. The blackout isn’t just SAS. Entire hubs are gone.
30,000+ flights have been disrupted around the Gulf with reroutes or forced returns, showing the crisis is already fracturing global aviation operations.
March 18 (Reuters) – As Emirates flight EK10 from London cruised over Saudi Arabia on Monday, news broke of a drone strike at its destination, Dubai. The aircraft turned back to Gatwick, flight data show, completing a 9,100 km (6,150 miles) round trip — one of dozens of “flights to nowhere” triggered by the Middle East war.
Roughly 30 Emirates flights heading to Dubai International were also ordered back or rerouted after Iranian drone attacks temporarily shut what is normally the world’s busiest airport for international passengers.
Airlines beyond SAS, including Air New Zealand and others, are reducing capacity and adding surcharges, signalling a widening industry‑wide operational contraction.
Major airlines in Asia and Europe have begun raising fares and fuel surcharges as jet fuel prices climb from the conflict, meaning the cost shock is systemic not isolated.