- More than 75,000 summer flights have been removed from airline schedules, per Cirium.
- The bulk of those came from Spirit and United Airlines.
- Jet fuel costs have soared due to the war in Iran.
Airlines canceled more than 75,000 flights this summer over a 10-day period, according to the aviation analytics firm Cirium.
On Tuesday, Cirium released an analysis of flight schedules between June 1 and September 30, comparing what those schedules looked like on April 24 versus May 4.
During those 10 days, airlines around the world removed more than 9.3 million seats, per Cirium.
US carriers accounted for the four largest reductions.
About 70% of the removed seats, or 33,000 flights, came from Spirit Airlines. The budget airline shut down last Saturday after negotiations for a federal bailout fell apart.
United Airlines reduced its summer schedule by over 21,000 flights over the 10-day period, marking the second-highest cancellation count.
Delta Air Lines removed around 7,300 flights, and American Airlines cut some 6,400 flights.
Airlines have faced significant cost increases since the war in Iran doubled jet fuel prices. In April, jet fuel exceeded $200 a barrel, but has dropped back to about $180 a barrel, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Jet fuel is typically an airline's second-highest expenditure after labor costs.
When Spirit announced it was winding down operations, it cited "the recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business."
The budget airline filed for Chapter 11 restructuring in August 2025 and in November 2024.
United Airlines, which reported a $340 million increase in fuel costs during the first quarter, is also cutting its schedule.
CEO Scott Kirby spoke about capacity cuts at a JP Morgan conference in March. "I'd much rather make the mistake of leaving a couple of months' worth of demand on the table because we cut more, and then you can get it back, as opposed to making the mistake of oil prices staying higher and longer, and you're flying flights that lose cash," he said.
Many airlines are raising ticket prices and baggage fees to offset higher fuel costs.
US carriers are more exposed to the price shock because, unlike most European airlines, they do not use financial derivatives to hedge against fuel costs.
Even so, Europe is also facing cancellations. Lufthansa, the continent's largest airline group by revenue, canceled over 5,000 flights that were scheduled between June and September, per Cirium's data.
The German flag carrier last month announced it was canceling 20,000 short-haul flights through October, reducing its capacity by 1%.
Not every airline has been slashing its schedule.
Cirium's data showed Frontier Airlines added more than 14,600 flights to its summer schedule.
After Spirit shut down, Frontier announced it would add nine new routes plus daily flights in 18 markets formerly served by its low-cost rival.
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