Air New Zealand has suspended its earnings guidance for the six months to June due to the conflict in the Middle East and warned that it may need to further increase fares and adjust its network if fuel prices remain elevated. The airline had previously guided in late February that it expected its second-half earnings to be in line with the NZ$59 million ($34.9 million) loss reported in the first half, albeit with uncertainty around the return of engines that have kept parts of its Airbus A321neo and Boeing 787 fleets grounded. It says in a 3 March market update, however, that the Iran conflict has led to "extreme volatility" in jet fuel markets, with prices "between $150 to $200 per barrel in recent days", compared to around $85 to $90 per barrel prior to the conflict. The airline also notes that the crack spread, which reflects the price premium between crude oil and jet fuel prices, has widened from around $22 per barrel to "as high as $115 per barrel". While it is 83% hedged against Brent crude prices over the second half of the fiscal year, it warns that it "remains exposed to movements in the crack spread", and thus the previous guidance is "no longer appropriate". Air NZ says that it has already started adjusting fares and is also continuing cost reduction initiatives to offset earlier identified cost pressures, but it warns that if the conflict "leads to continued elevated jet fuel costs, the airline may need to take further pricing action and adjust its network and schedule as required". That is likely to cause the airline to cut capacity in some markets, including potentially on long-haul routes which are more sensitive to rises in fuel prices. The carrier had previously guided that it expected second-half capacity to grow by 3-4% compared to a year ago, although international long-haul ASKs were expected to be flat. It also warned in February that the long-haul market was "expected to come under pressure into New Zealand winter" due to lower inbound visitors and the weaker New Zealand dollar suppressing outbound demand.

Turkish Airlines has warned that groundings of its Airbus A320neo-family jets for enhanced inspections of their Pratt & Whitney GTF engines will surge this year on the back of ongoing delays at the OEM. It predicts that 50 of its 110 GTF-powered Airbuses will be out of action at some point this year, a 28% increase from the 39 grounded at the end of 2025. During the Star Alliance carrier's annual results briefing on 5 March, Turkish's finance chief Murat Seker said that although P&W was "putting in hard work to solve the problem for good", engine turnaround times were "still long", leading to significant delays in getting aircraft back into service. Turkish has had some compensation from P&W but it remains in discussions on further financial settlements, adds Seker. The 39 jets parked at the end of 2025 compared with 35 in August, when Turkish expected 40-45 aircraft to be out of action because of the issue in 2026. GTF groundings had added around 1 percentage point to the airline's ex-fuel costs per ASK, it said at the time.

Lufthansa Group has reported a surge in bookings to Asia and Africa following the eruption of military conflict in the Middle East, as a lack of Gulf capacity forces passengers to book direct connections. During a briefing on full-year results, Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr said the group had seen a 75% increase in ticket sales to Asia for April. In response, Lufthansa has added extra capacity to the region, starting with a boost to its Bangkok service. The group also foresees adding more flights to Singapore, Shanghai and Cape Town, plus Riyadh "if the safety situation allows". Details of these services will be revealed in the next three days. Finance chief Till Streichert adds that although the Middle East crisis makes operations "more challenging indeed", there has been an "enormous increase" in demand on Lufthansa's routes both to Africa and Asia. He says that suspending 10 Middle Eastern routes has freed capacity for Asian expansion. This shift, combined with the seasonal reactivation of aircraft typically grounded for the winter, has bolstered Lufthansa’s fleet availability. Meanwhile, the group's high proportion of hedged fuel, 81% for this year, provides a "comparative advantage", says Streichert. Spohr notes that over the slightly longer term, passengers tend to respond to conflict by prioritising travel to safe destinations and booking with established brands. Pointing out Lufthansa's links to geopolitically calm destinations such as Japan and other areas of Asia, plus the reputation of its mainline and Swiss brands as "pillars of stability", he expects the crisis to support bookings going forward. "We can certainly attract more customers and make more profits," he declares. However, he does acknowledge the threat from airspace closures, which have now extended beyond Russia to include Iran and parts of the Gulf. European carriers can thus only reach Asia via Pakistan and Afghanistan, or south over Saudi Arabia, notes Spohr. "If these close, we could wonder whether Asia is reachable at all," he adds.