Airlines Start To Cancel Flights As Oil Surges

There has been talk for years about electric airplane engines. Or even, eventually solar. Heart Aerospace’s 30-seat ES-30 and Eviation’s 9-seat Alice are meant to run on electricity, and on longer flights, the engines switch to hybrid systems. Developers of these have not raised enough money to get their products to market. Airlines would have to buy or retrofit current aircraft; the costs would be unimaginable.

However, there are experiments. According to Mighty Travels, “United Airlines Orders 100 ES-30 Electric Aircraft for Regional Routes Between Chicago and Madison The partnership between United, Mesa Airlines, and Heart Aerospace is aiming to make this transition a reality. However, there are inherent challenges associated with transitioning to electric aircraft, particularly on a larger scale.”

Now, airlines are paying a price for their fossil fuel use as the cost of crude and, therefore, jet fuel is rising. Reuters reports, “United Airlines is cutting more ​unprofitable flights over the next two quarters as it prepares for a prolonged period of high jet fuel prices due to the Iran war, ‌even as strong travel demand has allowed U.S. carriers to raise fares.”

United is the fourth-largest airline by passengers, behind Delta, American, and Southwest—United’s revenue is $15 billion a year. 

The next question is: which other companies will be hit by a sharp rise in oil prices that spills over into jet fuel costs? Most likely UPS and FedEx. Amazon has its own fleet of planes to cut shipping costs for its massive annual cargo volume. If high jet fuel prices erode these companies’ profits, they will need to cut unprofitable routes as well.
According to the FAA, “Every day, the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) provides service to more than 44,000 flights and more than 3 million airline passengers across more than 29 million square miles of airspace.”  Some of that is going away