Middle East Crisis Makes Austrian Airlines Lose Twice as Much

ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/Nicolas Nezzo

JAKARTA - The crisis in the Middle East has significantly worsened the financial performance of Austrian Airlines, the airline has experienced an operating loss that has more than doubled in the first half of the year.

"Conflicts related to Iran have a very significant impact on us due to the sharp increase in jet fuel costs and the need to cancel a number of routes. The increase in ticket prices has only been able to offset some of the financial impact until June," said Austrian Airlines CEO Annette Mann, quoted by ANTARA from Sputnik, Wednesday, August 5.

The statement said the airline's operating losses increased by 50 million euros (Rp1 trillion) to a total of 93 million euros (Rp1.9 trillion) in the first half of 2026 due to the crisis in the Middle East.

Fuel costs increased by more than 60 million euros (Rp1.2 trillion) compared to the previous year, despite hedging strategies. Meanwhile, the forced cancellation of flights to Amman, Erbil, Tel Aviv, and Tehran caused additional losses worth tens of millions of euros.

Mann said the airline had taken a number of internal steps to minimize the short-term economic impact as much as possible, while still maintaining long-term investment plans.

The airline announced it would stop flights between Vienna and Graz - the capital of the state of Styria and Austria's second-largest city - from the winter schedule, following years of poor financial performance.

Flights to Tbilisi (Georgia), Keflavik (Iceland), and Porto (Portugal) will be suspended, while a number of overnight schedules for aircraft and crew in Klagenfurt, Copenhagen, Warsaw, and Krakow will be canceled.

Despite the difficult situation, the airline still expects to close the year with positive financial results thanks to increased efficiency and the transfer of some cost increases into ticket prices.

Austrian Airlines is part of Germany's Lufthansa Group, which in April decided to cut 20,000 short-haul flights by October as a step towards high aviation fuel costs.