Airlines to suspend some flights

I feel like qualifying this a bit. Airlines regularly evaluate routes every year and cancel or suspend some. This isn’t a new thing this year. The routes Air Canada is suspending are less popular routes that aren’t super profitable and with fuel price increases are even less profitable. Again, they suspend or cancel routes every year as does any airline.

Delta's suspension of Detroit-Reykjavik is the shortest of the 5 suspensions. It's a seasonal offering that was only recently reintroduced after quite a few years. Icelandair had also reintroduced seasonal flights between those cities several years before Delta.

These are Delta's 5 seasonal flight suspensions: https://simpleflying.com/delta-air-lines-suspends-5-summer-seasonal-routes-high-oil-prices/

In reading this morning's NYT (4-26-2026) there is a travel article about growing cancellations due to the continuing fuel shortage caused the U.S. war with Iran. I wonder if my trip to Europe this summer starting in late May and ending in late June may be affected. I am travelling on my frequent flyer account, and is FF flights that get cut will they be honored and rerouted by United and United affiliates (such Lufthansa in the Star Alliance)? I have flights taking me/us into Verona Italy and also flights from Rome to Athens and then returning from Zagreb, Croatia to the United States.
Questions: are star alliance tickets on the frequent flyer program likely to be honored for re-routing the same as paid tickets? Are my particular flights mentioned above in particular danger of being cut?

Lufthansa made a press statement some days ago to cancel 20,000 flights during summer flight plan.

Euronews article delivers some more industry backgrounds reflecting Lufthansa's decision.

oh dear! I hope that airline industry is still functioning well.

I've also seen reports that budget airlines in Europe will be cancelling some flights due to the fuel shortages, and prioritizing long haul flights. If I were travelling at the present time, I'd try to use trains or buses as much as possible.

Before everyone starts freaking out and acting as if flights will just come to a complete stop, relax.

What airlines are doing is consolidating routes. Instead of 4 flights a day between two cities, they cut back to 3. Planes will be more crowded but you won't be stranded.

Europe gets about 15% of its jet fuel from the Middle East. That amount can be replaced from other areas.

Your biggest concern should be ticket prices. As jet fuel costs rise, so will ticket prices.

I've been through a few airports in Europe over the last few weeks and I can tell you, they are not exactly empty. In fact, a few days ago, my departure flight was delayed 30 minutes by ATC because there were just too many planes trying to take off at the same time.

FrankII, I prices some flights for a trip in May and the prices were fine. Were they less 6 weeks ago? I dont know. But $150 round trip to Tirana with luggage is fine with me. I also looked at a flight to IAD in June and those are easy to find for about $800 RT which Google Flights says is on the low side of average.

I went through FCO yesterday. What a freeking mess. Rome, what a freeking mess. People are traveling. Wizz was full.

There is no bad press like canceled flight press so what does an airline do when it has turkey routes it needs to close? Might take years to do it .... unless we can blame it on a fuel shortage then no one blames the airline. A wild guess here, the airlines are using the fuel shortage news to realign and clean up their flights to be more profitable AFTER things return to normal.

The oldest mention that I can find, of there only being 60 days of fuel left was about 3 weeks ago, so all the planes will stay parked come about 19 May. So why is Wizz trying to sell me cheap tickets for the same date when they know that no planes will be in the air?

Has anyone seen any mention of Condor Airlines cancelling any of their flights?
I haven’t booked, but looking at them for this September: YVR-FRA- somewhere in Italy.