European airports may be facing a significant jet fuel shortage in as little as a few weeks, according to the Airports Council International (ACI).

“If the passage through the Strait of Hormuz does not resume in any significant and stable way within the next three weeks, systemic jet fuel shortage is set to become a reality for the EU,” said ACI Director Olivier Jankovec in a letter statement to her European Commission.

With the European cruise season about to start, the majority of guests will be sourced in North America and subject to increased airfare, baggage fees and potential flight disruptions.

The warning came in the letter that was sent, following a special meeting of the Oil Coordination Group on oil supply security. The letter was also copied to EU/EEA Energy Ministers, Transport Ministers, and Director Generals of Civil Aviation.

The letter said that any jet fuel crunch would reduce connectivity and compound the broader macroeconomic damage already being caused by rising oil prices.

ACI also pointed to structural shifts in demand, noting that post-pandemic air travel recovery has been driven by leisure and VFR (Visit Friends and Relatives) traffic, making tourism and aviation increasingly interdependent.

A central finding of the Oil Coordination Group meeting was that no EU-wide mapping or monitoring of jet fuel production and availability currently exists. ACI urged the European Commission to immediately establish such a system, covering current and projected fuel availability, the identification of alternative import sources, threats to intra-EU fuel flows from refineries and import hubs, and an assessment of commercial and strategic reserve levels and their projected timeline for use.

Beyond monitoring, ACI outlined specific policy remedies it is urging the Commission to enact.

These include the temporary lifting of import restrictions on jet fuel, along with clarification of measurement, reporting, and verification requirements under the EU Methane Emissions Regulation, which ACI warned is already discouraging external suppliers from committing to EU contracts being negotiated for summer delivery. ACI also called for collective EU purchasing of jet fuel and targeted refinery obligations to safeguard domestic production.

ACI also used the letter to address longer-term vulnerabilities, arguing that the crisis has exposed the EU’s reduced refining capacity for jet fuel and its heavy dependence on imports. The group called for an EU plan to recover and develop domestic refining capacity.