Europe’s largest airliner opts to cancel 10% of its flights due to lack of fuel

LONDON, April 3. /TASS/. Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, which is the largest in Europe in terms of number of flights, number of passengers and size of its fleet, opts cancelling 10% of its flights due to a shortage of aviation fuel, UK-based ITV television channel reported citing Chief Executive of Ryanair Michael O’Leary. "The Strait of Hormuz has been closed for 30 days. If it remains closed for 60 or 90 days, then we’re all facing an unknown scenario, and we are certainly looking at maybe having to cancel 5%-10% of flights through May, June and July," O’Leary stated. O'Leary blamed the announced air traffic disruptions on the United States that jointly with Israel had launched a military operation against Iran. "This has been a poorly judged attack on Iran. There doesn’t seem to be any exit plan at all," he said. The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key Iranian leaders were killed in the joint US-Israeli attack.