European airports have warned the EU that jet fuel shortages could hit the summer holiday season if oil supplies do not start to flow through the Strait of Hormuz within the next three weeks. Airports Council International (ACI) Europe reportedly wrote to EU transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas saying that the bloc is three weeks away from shortages. The letter was first reported by the Financial Times.
The warning will raise concerns of a risk of flight or holiday cancellations if the US and Israel's war on Iran continues. Oil prices have soared since the start of March after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for exports from the Gulf, in retaliation.
Protests over fuel prices have caused chaos in Ireland and spread to Norway in a knock-on effect from the conflict in the Middle East. Hauliers, farmers and other groups blocked motorways and brought parts of Dublin to a standstill on Friday in a fourth consecutive day of action. In Ireland the protests have sparked fuel shortages and travel disruption, and in Norway lorry drivers taking part in the 'diesel roar' protest descended on the capital.
The Irish government put the army on standby to help remove blockades and police warned some protesters to disperse or face arrest, prompting defiance and threats to continue the disruption for weeks if necessary. Protests were endangering critical supplies of food, fuel, clean water and animal feed, the police force, An Garda Síochána, said in a statement. 'This is not tolerable and is against the law.' Government leaders have accused protesters of holding the country to 'ransom'.
US inflation soared in March amid the US-Israel war with Iran, with prices up 0.9% compared to last month and 3.3% over the year, according to new data released Friday. The spike in the consumer price index (CPI) is the largest in nearly two years and the first official measure of how the conflict has impacted US consumer prices, particularly as Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil and gas would typically pass through.
