Fuel Is Forcing Europe’s Biggest Budget Airlines to Fly Less This Winter

Two of Europe’s largest low-cost airlines are shrinking their winter schedules because of fuel. The Irish Times reports that easyJet will remove between 600,000 and 700,000 more seats from its winter programme, on top of about 700,000 cut earlier. The airline typically offers roughly 50 million seats over the October-to-March season, and its chief executive said the cuts help it avoid buying fuel at high prices. Ryanair announced earlier what it called a one-off winter schedule cut covering November 2026 to March 2027.

Ryanair’s reduction amounts to about two million fewer seats across the winter, and it trimmed its forecast for the year to March 2027 from 216 million passengers to 214 million. The airline said the move should reduce its November-to-March losses by between 70 million and 100 million euros. About 80 percent of its winter fuel is hedged at around $67 a barrel, well below the market price of roughly $140 a barrel it cited in early September.

The root cause is jet fuel, which roughly doubled after the Iran conflict began in February and led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Prices have started to fall but remain well above what airlines expected, and the portion of fuel that is not hedged is costing carriers more. Ryanair’s boss expects higher fuel costs to last another 18 months, and the industry body IATA estimates rising fuel will add $100 billion to airline costs this year.

For passengers, the immediate effect is fewer flights on quieter days. Ryanair has said travelers booked on cancelled routes will receive a full refund or can move to another journey, so anyone with winter bookings should check their email and airline app for changes. Ryanair also warned that short-haul fares across Europe could increase materially from April to October 2027 if fuel prices stay high, which is worth keeping in mind for summer planning.

Sources: The Irish Times, Connexion France