Jet fuel squeeze spreads from Asia towards Europe and the Americas

A jet fuel shortage that first disrupted Asian aviation is at risk of spreading to Europe and the Americas, according to reporting by Bloomberg and international outlets in late March. Coverage links the squeeze to conflict-related disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.

Hormuz is the single most concentrated chokepoint in the oil trade. Middle East refineries and export terminals supply a large share of the jet fuel that moves east and west, so any interruption to transits is felt first by airlines that buy on short cycles and hold limited stock at airports.

Airlines respond to a physical shortage before they respond to price: tankering fuel on inbound sectors, re-timing rotations and, in the worst case, trimming schedules. That is why aviation disruption tends to appear in flight timetables well before it appears in published fuel benchmarks.

Global Freight has not independently verified the scale of the shortfall or the operational measures taken by individual carriers. Figures, forecasts and attributions remain those of the publications listed below.