Thousands of metres in the air, holidaymakers and business travellers listened in bemusement as the speaker crackled, delivering a bewildering announcement from the cockpit – the flight was going to be rerouted.
“Bad weather?”
“Technical issues?”
“Air traffic congestion?”
These were among the possibilities passengers would normally expect during a flight disruption.
Only after landing at an alternative airport did many realise that Iran had been attacked, which subsequently affected airspace throughout the region.
Geopolitical tensions between Israel, together with the United States, and Iran escalated on Feb 28. On that day, thousands of passengers found themselves stranded in unfamiliar territories after their flights were diverted mid-air due to the sudden airspace closures in and around the Gulf.
The conflict sent shockwaves globally. Subsequently, concerns started to grow over dwindling jet fuel supplies – caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints.
Now, months later, global travel continues to be affected, with Malaysia’s aviation sector among the earliest industries to feel the pinch from rising jet fuel prices.
Fuel is one of the largest expenses for airlines, making up close to 30% of operating costs, according to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
For airlines, the higher fuel price is not just about paying more at the pump.
To put things into perspective, a single Boeing 737-800 (commonly used for regional routes in Malaysia) can burn up to 2,400kg of fuel per hour depending on passenger load, flight distance and weather conditions.
As global oil prices rise, so do operating costs for airlines. And as a result, airlines are forced to turn to cost-saving measures, including scaling down routes and reducing flight frequencies.
Aviation schedule tracker AeroRoutes showed that Malaysian carriers such as Batik Air, AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines introduced route and frequency adjustments as early as March, and each company continues to review and update schedules as needed.
For example, Batik Air temporarily reduced several international services, including its Kuala Lumpur-Seoul (South Korea) route, which dropped from seven weekly flights to an average of four weekly services between May 5 and May 20.
Currently, the airline runs three to six flights on this route weekly.
Meanwhile, AirAsia X, the long-haul service of low-cost carrier AirAsia, saw inconsistent flight schedules for some destinations such as Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan).
In mid February, the airline announced that it will kick off a KL-London service (with a layover in Manama, Bahrain) on June 26. According to AeroRoutes, AirAsia X has changed the start date of that flight to Aug 27, operating four weekly flights at first.
The frequency is said to increase to one flight daily from Nov 2. Of course, this plan may change in the next few months, depending again on fuel prices and service demand.
Several domestic and lower- demand connections, including services from KL to Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and Johor Baru (Johor), also saw reductions for local airlines, as the aviation industry prioritised destinations with stronger passenger demand.
AeroRoutes data revealed that Batik Air reduced about 36% of its domestic flight capacity, affecting routes such as KL-Langkawi (Kedah), KL-Kuching (Sarawak) and KL-KK.
National carrier Malaysia Airlines is reportedly the least affected by the jet fuel price spikes as its parent holding company, Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), had adopted a quarterly fuel hedging approach.
This essentially allows the airline to pay a set price for a set amount and period, preventing purchases made during this agreed period to be affected by fluctuating prices.
As of April 2026, MAG had hedged approximately 36% of its fuel requirements for the first quarter of the year.
Adapting to changes
According to Mohamad Naszari Abu, 47, a strategic alliance manager at a travel agency, frequent flight cancellations and current conflict situation have affected many people’s travel plans.
“For both leisure and corporate visits, many customers are postponing their trips. However, some are still travelling, mainly to nearby destinations such as Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and even China,” he says in an interview.
Business travellers are seeing changes in how often they are able to travel and how they plan their work trips. Jeanne Tan Ju Ern, 31, a management consultant who travels at least once or twice a month, said her work trips are less predictable now.
“This year, there are months when I don’t fly at all. Work projects abroad have also reduced,” she says. She was originally scheduled to travel to Cape Town, South Africa in March, but the trip was postponed.
The irregularity of work schedules has made planning more complicated. “My team and I try to maximise each trip now, combining several work meetings into one visit,” she says.
“A lot of things can change at the last minute. Meetings get cancelled or clients suddenly ask us to fly in. It puts more pressure on us to be mindful of costs, especially when flight frequencies are lower and prices are higher,” she explains.
She now often delays booking flights until arrangements are more certain. The downside of this, however, is that flights can end up being fully booked or more expensive by then.
Not all business travellers have experienced major disruptions to their work trips, though. For Aman Singh Bhar, 57, the ongoing uncertainty has had little effect on how often he travels.
The independent cybersecurity advisor, who works closely with global multinational companies and G7 government agencies, says he spends an average of six to nine months abroad each year.
“My frequency of travel has not changed at all. If anything, it has increased slightly,” he says.
Among the destinations he usually travels to are Australia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden and Canada.
Aman now frequently travels to Amsterdam (Netherlands) and London (Britain).
When it comes to leisure travellers, they similarly find that pricing isn’t the only issue, it’s also the uncertainty – their flights may be delayed for hours, or worse, cancelled.
Farah Ayuni Zulkefli, 27, was among those who fretted over the unpredictable circumstances. Reports of flight cancellations to Istanbul, Turkiye back in April made her nervous, as at the time, she was just one week away from her own trip to the city.
“Thankfully, everything went smoothly in the end, and I got there and back safely,” she says.
There was an unavoidable hiccup, she shares, as her Istanbul-Budapest (Hungary) flight was delayed for 14 hours.
“It was originally scheduled at 9am but then re-timed to 11.35pm. Due to the short notice, I was unable to purchase an alternative flight, as prices had surged significantly from around RM300 to over RM1,000 for the cheapest option,” she elaborates.
The public relations executive had bought her flight ticket from KL to Istanbul in July 2025. All preparations including accommodation, train tickets and connecting flights were completed about three months before departure.
So, when reports of escalating tensions in the Gulf emerged at the end of February, she was still adamant to go on her meticulously-planned trip. “I usually travel abroad about four to six times a year,” she says.
Her April trip was her latest, which saw her spending 11 days travelling across Istanbul, Budapest and Salzburg, Hallstatt and Vienna in Austria.
“In Salzburg, I did notice some people looking at me and my friend differently, probably because we were in our hijab. Maybe it was because of the global situation at the time, but I didn’t let it affect my experience,” she shares.
Despite current circumstances, Farah says she will continue to travel. She has already booked flights to Labuan Bajo (Indo-nesia) in August and Bahrain in October for her birthday.
Frequent traveller Mohammad Ikhmal Suhaimi, 30, has also had some of his travel plans for this year affected.
“I usually travel almost every month,” he says. Initially, September was the only month this year that he will not be travelling. Now, it seems his calendar might need a little reshuffling.
“My plans this year have definitely been affected,” he says. “I had planned to go to Japan after Hari Raya, but my KL-Osaka flight was rescheduled and even cancelled multiple times; I had to rebook my flight three times.”
Flight fares were also much more expensive than usual, he adds. When his AirAsia RM99 promotional ticket to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) was cancelled, he had to buy a new one-way ticket – which cost him more than RM1,000.
Despite all this, the design architect is not deterred and plans to continue travelling, as most of his upcoming trips until December are already planned or partially booked.
He finds that currently, accommodation prices are still affordable, though he still books the “free cancellation” option in case of last-minute changes.
During his trip to Cebu (Philippines) recently, he discovered that on-ground transportation costs had gone up, too. Fluctuating fuel prices had also caused the price of the tour package he had originally opted for to increase by double.
Due to his chosen destinations, Mohammad Ikhmal is resigned to the fact that he will have to bear the rising costs.
“Since most of my trips are international, trains or buses are not really practical alternatives for me,” he says, adding that flying is still his main option.
With air travel becoming more unpredictable, many travellers are turning to real-time flight tracking applications to stay updated before heading to the airport.
Travel platforms such as Flighty come in handy by providing real-time updates on airport conditions, weather disruptions, air traffic congestion and flight delays at airports worldwide.
Besides tracking flights, travellers can also make use of safety and communication applications to stay connected and informed while abroad.
For example, Bridgefy, an offline messaging app, allows users to send messages through Bluetooth connections.
Meanwhile, bSafe has features such as GPS location sharing and emergency alerts, where travellers can quickly notify family or friends when they feel unsafe.
For Malaysians travelling overseas, MyWorldAlert by the Foreign Affairs Ministry provides access to a nearby Malaysian embassy and assistance channels during emergencies.
Ripple effects in tourism
In the past few months, South-East Asian countries have been taking measures to sustain their respective tourism sectors.
Countries like the Philippines, Thailand and even Malaysia have taken to enforcing work from home orders for civil servants. Along with Vietnam and Singapore, these nations are also imposing air conditioning limits.
The efforts to conserve electricity extend to limiting mall operation hours, as seen in the Philippines.
In Thailand, with the number of international guests continuously dwindling, luxury hotels began slashing prices up to 70% to attract domestic tourists and residents instead.
Mohamad Naszari highlights that within Malaysia itself, domestic travel still thrives, especially during public holidays. He cites the recent Hari Raya Haji as example, saying that plenty of people are still travelling back to their hometowns.
These movements help boost local tourism, as long journeys typically translate to stops at local attractions as well as hotel and short-term rental accommodation (STRA) bookings, he says.
In fact, domestic travel in Malaysia has seen exponential growth in the post-pandemic era. Data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia records 27.2 million domestic tourists in the fourth quarter of 2025, which shows an increase of 10.1% compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year.
This demonstrates that domestic tourists can continue to bolster the local tourism industry, even if there are fewer international tourist arrivals throughout 2026.
However, Dr Sri Ganesh Michiel, national president of Malaysia Business and Budget Hotel Association (MyBHA), notes that while they have not observed a significant nationwide decline in hotel occupancy solely due to the global conflicts, MyBHA has observed changes in certain international travel segments.
“Visitors from the Arab countries, who traditionally contribute significantly to the accommodation sector, appear to be travelling more cautiously due to economic uncertainties, geopolitical developments and increasing travel costs,” he says.
This affects STRA, which is typically favoured by many tourists from that region. Reduced visits lead to weaker demands, and in turn force STRA operators to significantly reduce room rates to maintain occupancy.
Things might change for the better soon, though, thanks to government initiatives. Tourism Malaysia has recently said that one of its strategies to boost arrivals is to work with airlines, including local ones, to promote the country to folks living in the Gulf, who are among the highest group of spenders in tourism.
However, with Malaysia being an attractive travel destination, Dr Sri Ganesh says that the country can still rely on regional travellers to “... provide a degree of stability for the Malaysian hospitality industry”.
“We are seeing strong travel demand from Asean countries, China, India, South Korea and other nearby markets,” he says.
“Regional travellers generally have shorter travel plan cycles, lower travel costs, and are less affected by long-haul flight disruptions. This has helped sustain tourism activity despite global uncertainties.”
However, to reduce dependency on any single region, Sri Ganesh urges Malaysia to “... continue diversifying its source markets and strengthen domestic tourism”. These include prioritising efforts to improve air connectivity, visa facilitation, destination marketing and tourism product development.
The drop in flight and accommodation bookings are also affecting Europe, a popular destination for summer (June-August) travels.
While Europe faces no fuel shortage at the moment, soaring jet fuel prices are forcing some flight routes to be cancelled.
In turn, this has led to carriers like Zenith Airlines and European Cargo Limited to cease operations. (Their abrupt closures somehow still pale in comparison to the sudden shutdown of Spirit Airlines in the US that left its roughly 17,000 employees jobless overnight.)
As a continent with good railway connections, Europe is not highly reliant on aviation for tourism. But there are parts of it that are seeing fewer travellers in recent months.
Cyprus, for example, saw a nearly 40% drop in spring bookings, with some STRA experiencing 100% cancellation rates during peak conflict. Tourists were pivoting to other Mediterranean destinations, like Spain.
However, summer might bring a ray of hope, as Hermes Airports (the company that manages and controls Cyprus’ two international airports) reported in May that flights from Britain showed a 92% occupancy rate, signalling recovery for the island nation.
