Ryanair has explained why your 2026 summer holiday flights will not get cancelled due to the jet fuel crisis and closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East.

And the budget airline has gone one further by saying how flights going in to 2027 will also remain unaffected by this, all because of a clever arrangement the Irish business has with its suppliers.

CEO of Ryanair Group, Michael O’Leary explained the matter this morning (18 May) as the business shared its annual results for the 2026 financial year – a year in which they saw passengers grow from 200.2 million to 208.4 million.

Revenue went up alongside this from £13.95 billion to £15.54 billion. So if you wondered where your money went when you get caught with the wrong sized bag, here we are, and that’s before prices potentially rising if baggage rules change.

The inside of a Ryanair plane (Manuel Romano/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Ryanair’s hedged jet fuel avoids Hormuz crisis impact

Ryanair has been clever with its business, doing what is called ‘hedging’ when it comes to its fuel supply.

Long story short, and in layman’s terms, this is where the business has agreed in advance to pay a fixed rate for its fuel.

As it stands, Ryanair has hedged a massive 80 percent of its jet fuel needs up until April 2027. The price? We’re talking $67 a barrel.

On the open market, the price of jet fuel has risen from around $90 per barrel to as high as $200 per barrel, showing just how well insulated Ryanair is from the Iran War and Strait of Hormuz being blockaded. To compare it all to the life we live, it is a bit like agreeing to a fixed mortgage on your house or flat instead of going on a variable rate, where what you pay can change by the month due to interest rate changes.

“Ryanair’s conservative jet-fuel hedging strategy will insulate [Ryanair] earnings in the current very volatile oil markets and widen the cost advantage over EU competitors for the remainder of FY27,” O’Leary said.

Ryanair is going ahead with a normal summer season, it says (Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Jet fuel from elsewhere

In his statement on Ryanair’s jet fuel hedging, O’Leary said that the Straight of Hormuz is only one of many avenues to get supply.

“The conflict in the Middle East has created economic uncertainty and we still don’t know when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen,” he said.

“Despite this, Europe remains relatively well supplied with jet-fuel, with significant volumes sourced from West Africa, the Americas and Norway.”

As well as this, Neil Sorahan, Ryanair’s CFO, said he was ‘increasingly confident that we will not see any supply shocks this summer’.

Ryanair’s ‘Armageddon’ preparation is in hand

Despite the calm coming from inside Ryanair, Sorahan admitted that there is always a plan for ‘Armageddon’ despite plans for a fuller operational summer period.

He told CNBC: “Do we have plans for some kind of Armageddon situation? Of course, we do, but I don’t see that coming to pass.

“As things stand, we’re operating a full schedule this summer, and plan to operate a full schedule into the winter period.”

Credits: Ryanair

The post Why your Ryanair flight won’t get cancelled due to jet fuel crisis first appeared on AircrewNews.com.

Australia’s second-largest airline has revealed its March price hikes following Qantas in cutting travel capacity and raising airfares amid the conflict in the Middle East.

But Virgin Australia is more confident about the effectiveness of its fuel hedging, even though it is currently facing an increased cost of $30-40 million in the second half of its financial year.

Qantas on Tuesday revealed its second-half fuel bill would rise by $800 million to $3.3 billion.

Virgin Australia also said fare increases and capacity cuts would help protect earnings and left its profit outlook unchanged.

The carrier, which will report its fiscal 2026 results in August, still expects second-half underlying earnings to be higher than the previous corresponding half, when it reported annual earnings of $664.4 million.

“In FY26, the group continues to experience strong customer demand, with higher fuel costs largely mitigated through effective fuel hedging and recent airfare and capacity adjustments,” Virgin told the stock exchange on Wednesday.

For the rest of its fiscal year, Virgin is hedged 92 per cent for Brent crude oil and 71 per cent for refining margins.

This means its exposure is limited to the unhedged portion of crude and refining margins.

In contrast, Qantas said it had hedged 90 per cent of its exposure to crude oil costs but remained exposed to the cost of refining crude into jet fuel.

Refining costs have soared from around $US20 a barrel in February, when the conflict began, to a peak of around $US120.

Like all airlines, fuel is one of Virgin’s highest costs.

In the first half, fuel accounted for 21 per cent of total operating expenses with the equivalent of 3.4 million barrels of oil consumed at a cost of about $555 million.

“To offset the impact from increased fuel and other operating costs, such as airport charges, Virgin Australia has adjusted airfares and capacity” in the current half.

Domestic capacity will fall by 1 per cent in the June quarter, but will still be 1 per cent higher across the half.

At the same time, revenue per available seat kilometre – a key metric that reflects how much money is generated for each seat – will rise by 5 per cent across the second half, and 6 per cent in the June quarter.

Looking ahead to the new financial year, Virgin said ongoing volatility meant its capacity setting would continue to be under review.

“The group continues to monitor the external environment and retains flexibility to take further actions if required,” it added.

Credits: Virgin Australia

The post Virgin reveals raised fares, cuts capacity as fuel prices soar first appeared on AircrewNews.com.