Buffeted by six weeks of war in the Middle East, airlines have scrambled to trim routes and costs as fuel bills explode and wary clients think twice about their travel plans, a situation that could persist even if a fragile truce holds.

Carriers have largely halted flights in the Gulf region, with Air France announcing this week that it was extending its suspensions until May 3.

With no certainty that jet fuel prices will return to pre-war lows, chief executives are having to rethink expansion plans and plane orders.

“It’s absolutely colossal,” Pascal de Izaguirre, president of the French aviation federation (FNAM), told business daily La Tribune.

He said fuel usually represents 25 per cent to 30pc of an airline’s operating costs, but at current prices it now accounts for 45pc.

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