An airline boss who axed flights from London Gatwick has warned more cancellations are on the way - as the Iran war continues to send fuel prices spiralling.
Eivind Roald, CEO of Norse Atlantic Airways, said he was forced to act amid skyrocketing costs which increased by 'more than 100 per cent after a few days'.
This led to 'challenging discussions internally' and ultimately last week's decision to suspend all the company's flights to Los Angeles in the summer.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Mr Roald has now revealed he expects his airline's competitors will axe more flights.
He said: 'From our side we will continue flying from London Gatwick and from Athens and Rome this summer, we don’t have any plans to cancel more flights.
'When it comes to our competitors, I can’t really say, I assume you will see more cancelations coming, we often see it coming in short haul flights in Europe. The long haul flights are still there.'
It is understood that British Airways owner IAG, Easyjet and Jet2 holidays currently have no plans to change their schedules.
Mr Roald said he was optimistic the price of jet fuel would come down again in six to nine months time.
Eivind Roald (pictured), CEO of Norse Atlantic Airways, said he was forced to act amid skyrocketing costs which rose by 'more than 100 per cent after a few days'
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Mr Roald has now revealed he expects his airline's competitors will axe more flights
He added: 'What we will see is a consolidation in the industry. We think that you will see that things will be changed, some of the companies existence'.
The airline boss went on to issue an ominous warning about
The comments come as passengers have already seen rising fares since the start of Donald Trump's war with Iran in February.
The conflict prompted Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for jet fuel out of the Gulf - where 21million barrels of crude oil, petroleum and other energy sources passed through daily before the conflict started.
But Brits lucky enough to have already booked their summer getaways could still face travel disruption.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents more than 360 airlines, has warned passengers to expect flight cancellations in the May half-term holidays as flight disruption spread from Asia to Europe.
However, despite warnings from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that Europe faces possible jet fuel shortages in six weeks, experts have said they believe this will be 'naturally' by the lower demand, which means airlines will be able to consolidate schedules and run fewer flights on high-frequency routes.
No.10 have insisted they are doing everything necessary to prepare for jet fuel issues in the coming months.
The UK has since increased imports of jet fuel from outside the Middle East, but it is not believed to be enough to solve the future issues.
In total over 60 per cent of the country's jet fuel imports come from the region.
Sally Gethin, an aviation specialist, said the scale of the impact on air passengers will depend on how long the Strait remains closed.
'Even if it opens you'd still need time for the jet fuel supplies to start up again,' she told the Daily Mail. 'So the best case scenario would be fares going up and some routes being cancelled.
'The worst case scenario is if this carries on for six to eight weeks and the shortages start really biting. This could pose an existential crisis to airlines - even if they slap on fuel surcharges they still won't recoup the cost.
'You could be looking at tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands, of flights being cancelled globally. It could affect holiday companies as well, although consumers will be protected if their trips are covered by ATOL.'