Why your Ryanair flight wont get cancelled due to jet fuel crisis
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.
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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.
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."
Topics: Travel, Ryanair, Cost of Living, World News, Ireland, Europe
Tom Earnshaw