Major airline cancels over 1,000 flights as oil prices soar — with cuts expected for months

Air New Zealand will be cutting back on flights over the next two months — a 5% reduction in its services — due to a surge of fuel prices resulting from the conflict in the Middle East.

The reduction, which will take place until the beginning of May 2026, will equate to approximately 1,100 flights, which will impact 44,000 of the major airline’s 1.9 million passengers. The majority of affected passengers will be moved onto other flights.

“We’re focused on consolidating flights that are off-peak flying hours, for example, or where there is an alternative that we can re-accommodate customers,” said Nikhil Ravishankar, chief executive of Air New Zealand, to 1News.

Later, Ravishankar added that the “interventions we’re putting in place are not only reasonable, but are what all airlines around the world are doing”.

David Slotnick, a contributing aviation editor at The Points Guy, has a nuanced take on whether the majority of major airlines will take this approach.

“Canceling flights and rearranging networks can be a big deal for airlines, so they generally won’t do it without a compelling reason,” Slotnick told The Post. “If people start to travel less because of fuel prices and airlines see demand fall, then it would make sense to trim the schedule to match the demand, especially if you’re just cancelling flights on routes that have multiple flights each day.”

“But if travel demand stays high, like some of the major US airlines are forecasting, then airlines are more likely to pass on some of the higher fuel costs to passengers by raising ticket prices, and also absorbing some of the cost as an operating expense,” Slotnick continued.

While Air New Zealand has not put out a list of exact flights that will be impacted, officials in New Zealand have shared that domestic routes have been altered.

According to Mayor Nadine Taylor, Air New Zealand will reduce its routes from Marlborough to Wellington. Auckland and Christchurch flights will also be impacted, though less long-haul flights will be cut.

“People want to get to Europe still, and ​over the US airspace we can get them into Europe, and that’s what we’re focused on doing,” Ravishankar added.

Air New Zealand has also recently upped its prices as the costs of jet fuel climb higher amidst the US-Iran conflict.

Prior to the conflict, prices sat around $90 per barrel — and have since ballooned to as much as $200 per barrel.

For Air New Zealand, this led to domestic flights increasing by $10, short-haul by $20, and long-haul by a whopping $90.

Airlines like Qantas and Scandinavia’s SAS have followed suit with similar price increases. 

Conversely, airlines like Ryanair, easyJet, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been less affected due to having secured a portion of their fuel at fixed prices for a finite period of time.

“(The price rise in jet fuel) won’t affect our costs and won’t lower our fares,” Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary told The Sun.

“Fuel is one of the largest expenses of an airline,” travel expert Gary Leff of View from the Wing told The Post. “Marginal routes become loss-makers. And demand may fall, too, with economic contraction that comes from higher oil prices.”

“Cutting domestic routes where there are multiple flights is something we may see,” Leff continued. “If you’re based in New Zealand, a lot of flying is a long haul — burns a lot of fuel!”