Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has warned that jet fuel supplies could face disruption from May if the ongoing conflict in Iran continues.
His comments follow remarks from US President Donald Trump, who indicated a potential withdrawal from the war within two to three weeks if he felt confident Iran would not be able to build a nuclear weapon, even without a ceasefire agreement.
However, Irish premier Micheál Martin deemed such a timeframe "too long", stating the Irish government is pressing for "as early an end to this as possible".
Mr Martin underscored the "very serious" threat posed by potential jet fuel supply interruptions, particularly given Iran’s effective blockade of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, warning of significant implications "if this war doesn’t stop".
Mr O’Leary, speaking to Sky News, clarified that any significant disruption to jet fuel supplies is not anticipated before May.
“The fuel companies are happy there won’t be any disruption until early May,” he said on Wednesday.
“But if the war continues, we do run the risk of supply disruptions in Europe in May and June and obviously we hope the war will finish sooner than that and that the risk to supply will be eliminated.”
Asked about the impact of such shortages, he said: “It’s almost impossible to know. If the war finishes and the Strait of Hormuz is opened by the middle or end of April, then there’s no risk to supply.
“If the war continues, and the disruption to supply continues, we think there is a reasonable risk that maybe 10 per cent, 20 per cent, 25 per cent of our supplies might be at risk through May and June.
“So, like everybody else in the industry, we hope this war ends sooner rather than later.”
Ireland’s Transport Minister, Darragh O’Brien, said Mr O’Leary has his “finger on the pulse” and said the issue was discussed at a meeting of EU energy ministers.
“There’s a particular focus on aviation because of the sizeable portion of jet fuel that comes through the Strait of Hormuz,” Mr O’Brien said.
“If this doesn’t cease soon, there will be impacts on aviation, too. Those concerns have been raised with me, and it was something that was discussed yesterday at the Energy Council that I attended virtually yesterday.
“So the EU are acutely aware of it, and I am too – aviation is critically important to Ireland.”
He said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is to unveil a package on energy measures next Wednesday, which would include measures on aviation.
He said ensuring gas supplies were secure, purchasing fuel in bulk, examining energy storage options, and affordability would be examined ahead of the unveiling of EU measures.
“Costs (and) affordability has to be central of this and I raised that very point myself yesterday,” he said.
“In everything we’re discussing, we’ve got to protect jobs, protect the people’s livelihoods, and protect people as best we can – we’re not going to be able to soften every increase in costs.”
He added: “It’s interesting to see that the level of intervention that we have made is one of the most significant in Europe so far, but we have said that that is our first intervention.
“We have flexibility in that to intervene again should we need to.”
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