The Portuguese Airlines Association (RENA) said today that, for now, there is no impact on operations, but admits the possibility of flight cancellations and higher prices if the energy crisis persists.
The association’s reaction comes after the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, warned today that Europe will have “perhaps another six weeks of jet fuel” if it continues to block the supply of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz.
In statements to Lusa, the CEO of RENA, António Moura Portugal, considered that the alert should be read as “yet another serious warning about the consequences that this war is having, and in particular for the aviation sector”.
According to the official, the shortage of aviation fuel is a theoretical risk that is on the table and could affect the aviation sector, similarly to other activities dependent on critical raw materials.
“There is a great dependence on jet fuel that arrives in Europe through the Gulf, which used to be around 75%, [but] today I believe it is less,” he pointed out.
But in the event of a prolonged energy crisis, he admits that “it could lead to the need to reduce operations and, eventually, raise prices.”
António Moura Portugal stressed, however, that airlines remain in a phase of expectation and are monitoring the evolution of the conflict, without taking drastic measures in Portugal related to the crisis in the Middle East.
“Until today, I haven’t seen any definitive statements from the airlines [in Portugal],” he said, adding that “at the moment there is a certain expectation” and that, for now, he wants to leave “this word of reassurance.”