Spirit Airlines pilots have expressed support for a federal loan to be provided to the US carrier, which in August 2025 filed for Chapter 11 for the second time in 10 months. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) says Spirit pilots – which the union represents – have "voiced their strong support for the Trump administration's proposed relief effort for Spirit Airlines". US president Donald Trump on 21 April observed during an interview on the CNBC TV show Squawk Box that "Spirit's in trouble". He adds: "I'd love somebody to buy Spirit. It's 14,000 jobs. And maybe the federal government should help that one out – I told my people." Cirium has asked Spirit to comment on media reports indicating that the US government may loan it up to $500 million. Ryan Muller, Spirit Airlines master executive council chair for ALPA, states that "federal relief is not a handout". He adds: "It is a loan that will allow the airline to finish the work that is already well underway, and it is the right call for 14,000 workers, nearly 2,000 pilots, the families who depend on those paychecks, and the millions of passengers who rely on affordable air travel. Any government relief must protect Spirit employees to ensure we can competitively move forward." Muller notes that "the global fuel shock now threatening this industry is not something any airline employee caused, and it is not something this workforce should be asked to absorb alone". Spirit – which on 13 March filed with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York a restructuring support agreement and reorganisation plan – intends to emerge from Chapter 11 in the late spring or early summer. During an earnings call on 21 April, United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby noted that "going back into the last [presidential] administration" he has said "that the Spirit business model is fundamentally flawed and it's going to fail". Kirby adds: "I feel bad for the people [at Spirit]. A lot of them will land jobs at other airlines." Two days later, during an earnings call on 23 April, Southwest Airlines chief executive Bob Jordan noted the "tough situation" at Spirit. "You've got a lot of people that are affected," Jordan says. "But it's a tough industry. Things come around. I've been here 38 years. You have wars, you have fuel spikes, you have economic issues, recessions. "And you've got to be prepared for the long term as a business, because the shocks are going to happen."

Lufthansa Group has announced a swathe of cancellations across its hubs at Frankfurt and Munich as it looks to reduce fuel consumption amid sharply higher prices. The German group will axe a total of 20,000 services from the two hubs in a bid to save 40,000t of jet fuel, the price of which has roughly doubled since the start of the Iran conflict. It notes that while routes are being axed from Frankfurt and Munich, the hubs of its subsidiary airlines in Zurich, Vienna and Brussels will have their schedules expanded as part of its plans to consolidate its European network. "Passengers will therefore continue to have access to the global route network, particularly long-haul connections. However, due to the increase in jet fuel prices, this will be achieved significantly more efficiently than before," Lufthansa says. Some cancellations, such as those from Frankfurt to Bydgoszcz and Rzeszow in Poland and Stavanger in Norway, are already reflected in the schedules. Medium-term route plans for the coming months are still being worked out and will be published in late April or early May. "This will include optimisations to the short-haul offering for the entire summer season, thereby ensuring schedule stability for the flight plan period," says the group. Lufthansa has long complained that high taxes and fees to operate in Germany have made its routes to, from and within the country vulnerable to closure, with implications for connectivity and the economy. By its own estimates, costs have broadly doubled since 2019, and many airlines have left the domestic sector. Cirium data shows that Lufthansa’s weekly seat capacity in Germany was down by around a tenth this August compared with pre-pandemic levels, with the bulk of losses being in the domestic segment. The group has highlighted that the financial performance of its mainline German operations has lagged the rest of the group. That led chief executive Carsten Spohr to declare on a 6 March results call that Lufthansa "must become more profitable", while acknowledging that a turnaround plan was beginning to have a positive impact. On 16 April, the carrier announced that it was discontinuing the operations of its CityLine subsidiary as part of "accelerated capacity and fleet measures", while bringing forward the retirement of some older aircraft. The Star Alliance carrier describes the measures as an "initial package" that would seek to reduce fuel burn. In its latest statement, Lufthansa adds that it expects a "largely stable" fuel supply for the summer and is "pursuing a range of measures to this end", including the physical purchasing of jet fuel and hedging. The group reported in March that it was 81% hedged for its full needs across the year.

Carriers in the USA are not in danger of running out of jet fuel amid the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East, in the view of United Airlines chief financial officer Michael Leskinen. The price of jet fuel – not availability – is the central issue, Leskinen said on 22 April during an earnings call. "We don't see a lack of availability being an issue at all in the US – it's a price issue," Leskinen says. "However, even in Europe and Asia, as we sit here today, we think it is a price issue, not an availability issue." He adds that United has "really good visibility for four or five weeks" and is seeing the price of jet fuel "rise much more than the price of Brent", which will lead to "a rationing function" in aviation. "That means there will not be spot outages, but we're watching it closely. The longer the strait remains closed, the more that is of risk." United continues to monitor "the massive run-up in fuel prices created by the conflict in Iran". Leskinen notes that United in the first quarter "delivered resilient results" despite "a $340 million higher fuel bill" in the period. The US major's first-quarter operating profit came in at $997 million, up from $607 million in the same period last year. "We are managing the business with the expectation that jet fuel remains elevated in the medium term," he says.