The Spanish airline Volotea is dealing with the kerosene shortage in a special way.Image: IMAGO / ABACAPRESS
The lack of fuel is driving up prices and some flights are being canceled entirely. Two airlines are dealing with the situation in an almost strange way.
May 11, 2026, 6:07 p.mMay 11, 2026, 6:07 p.m
Dorothea Meadows, Leonie Lang / t-online
The Spanish airline Volotea has found a way to ask passengers to pay again after buying a plane ticket. The background is the shortage of kerosene due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and the resulting price increase.
Does the calculation also go the other way?
The airline, which also offers flights from twelve German locations, has launched a program under the “Fair Travel Promise”. According to its own information, Volotea wants to check how the prices for kerosene have developed seven days before departure. If these exceed the price at the time of booking, a surcharge of up to 14 euros per person and route may apply. According to Volotea, “Fair” means that she also gives money back if the costs go in the other direction. However, that seems impossible in the current global political situation.
Are Volotea’s business practices legal? Anyone who buys a ticket actually has to be transported at the agreed price. Subsequent surcharges are only possible in exceptional cases, for example if the general conditions change unreasonably and unforeseeably, the passenger rights experts from “Flightright” explained to the “Travel Reporter”. According to the courts, fluctuations in the price of jet fuel are part of the airline’s business risk. And if a price development was foreseeable, subsequent surcharges are generally not permitted. Even wars are not automatically considered justification.
How customers will deal with subsequent price increases and whether some of those affected will sue remains to be seen.
Airline cancels whole day
The US airline Avelo Airlines has established another unusual method of dealing with the kerosene shortage. According to the industry portal “Aerotelegraph”, Avelo will not operate any flights on Tuesdays between May and August.
Why this? In aviation, Tuesday is considered less popular. In other words: fewer tickets are sold. A good day of the week to avoid flights altogether, according to “Aerotelegraph”.
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