Airline SAS to cancel 1,000 flights in April due to high fuel prices — reports

Scandinavian airline SAS said it would cancel 1,000 flights in April because of high oil and jet fuel prices caused by the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Swedish business daily Dagens Industri (DI) reported on Tuesday.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is now in its third week, with no end in sight. The Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed off and U.S. allies have rebuffed U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for them to help reopen the vital waterway, through which about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows.

"The price of jet fuel has doubled in ten days. Even if we try to absorb cost hikes as far as we can this is a shock that strikes directly at the aviation industry," SAS CEO Anko van der Werff told DI.

He said the company had cancelled a "couple of hundred" flights in March, adding that the airline normally had 800 daily flights and that the measures taken were not drastic. SAS has already hiked prices of flights due to rising fuel costs.

SAS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

-Johan Ahlander/Reuters