Passengers board the Patriot Express at RAF Mildenhall in England on Dec. 20, 2022. Rising jet fuel prices and supply concerns across Europe are driving up pressure on passengers just ahead of the summer months, the peak travel season for the U.S. military. (Viviam Chiu/U.S. Air Force)
Rising jet fuel costs and supply concerns across Europe are putting pressure on passengers just before the summer months that mark the U.S. military’s peak travel season.
The strain comes as shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil chokepoint, prompt fears that Europe could face “severe” flight cancellations and reduced seating capacity this summer.
Lufthansa announced Tuesday that it had cut roughly 20,000 flights, a move expected to save the airliner nearly 40,000 metric tons of fuel through October. The cancellations are estimated to reduce overall seat capacity by about 1%.
The next few months will see the onset of the military’s peak permanent change-of-station season, when service members and their families travel for new duty assignments.
For service members who rely on commercial airlines in Europe, including Lufthansa, to reach PCS locations, it’s unclear whether flight cancellations and capacity reductions could affect travel timelines.
The potential impact extends beyond passenger airlines.
The 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, a major hub for Pentagon operations, was using between 500,000 and 600,000 gallons of fuel per day, according to a statement put out March 11.
That was roughly two weeks after war broke out between the United States and Iran. A two-week ceasefire negotiated earlier this month was about to expire when President Donald Trump announced an extension Tuesday.
“We have about 9 million gallons of fuel storage that we (quality-check) constantly,” Master Sgt. Matthew Bennett, the 86th Logistics Readiness Squadron’s fuels management flight superintendent, said in the statement.
The unit supports three wings and five combatant commands, underscoring the scale of fuel demand at the U.S. military’s busiest air base in Europe.
Due to operational security, officials cannot provide specifics on fuel inventory levels or potential effects on military passenger travel, said Maj. Madeline Krpan, a spokesperson for U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
She described the logistics infrastructure there as highly resilient and robust.
Ramstein is a focal point for all sorts of U.S. military air travel in Europe, from operational missions to space-available flights on a service known as the Patriot Express.
However, troops stationed farther from the base often rely on commercial airlines for PCS moves, leave and other travel, particularly when Patriot Express capacity is limited.
Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, said last week that Europe has “maybe six weeks of jet fuel left.”
Rising oil costs are part of broader pressures on the industry, but jet fuel availability remains an immediate concern, Michael O’Leary, head of Ryanair, told Sky News in April.
However, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the European Union commissioner for sustainable transport and tourism, pushed back on concerns in a statement Wednesday on X.
There are currently no fuel supply shortages across Europe, and cancellations are “related to high prices, not to lack of supply,” Tzitzikostas said.
