Published On 4/24/2026
The longer the Strait of Hormuz remains disturbed, the wider the chain linking war, food and travel. The faltering supplies in the Gulf not only raise energy prices, but also hit jet fuel in Europe and Asia and cooking gas in India, gradually transforming the war from a geopolitical dispute into a cross-border livelihood crisis.
From this angle, two British reports chart how the list of war victims extends from airports to kitchens.
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War bill for travelers
In the Independent newspaper, Miraya Merino monitors how the Middle East crisis spread to the global aviation sector, after the sharp jump in jet fuel prices prompted airlines to cancel flights, reduce operational capacity, and raise fees and prices.
The report indicates that fuel prices rose from about $85 to $90 per barrel to between $150 and $200 within weeks, in a severe blow to a sector in which fuel may consume a quarter of operating expenses. Hence, the issue is no longer a passing fluctuation in the market, but rather a crisis that is directly reflected in tickets, bags, schedules, and the profitability of companies together.
Europe seems to be at the heart of this concussion. The report points out that about 75% of European aviation fuel supplies come from the Middle East, which makes the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz a direct danger to airports and airlines.
That is why the European Commission moved to introduce measures aimed at improving the distribution of fuel among member states to avoid shortages, while European officials had previously warned of a difficult summer even in the best scenarios.
At the corporate level, the newspaper indicated that Lufthansa announced the cancellation of 20,000 flights within 6 months to save fuel, while the president of United Airlines said that ticket prices may need to rise between 15% and 20%, while other companies from Asia, Europe, America, and Africa proceeded to impose additional fees, reduce flights, or lower financial expectations.
What is striking in this picture is not only the size of the losses incurred by companies, but also the breadth of the geography affected by the crisis. The list compiled by The Independent extends from Air France, Cathay Pacific, Delta and Southwest to companies in Nigeria, India, South Korea, Australia and Vietnam. Some reduced flights, some raised fees on fuel or luggage, and some warned that the continuation of these prices threatened profitability or even continuity.
Thus, the traveler far from the Gulf is no longer truly far from the war, because what he pays in custody or on a seat or bag has become part of the daily war bill.
India…a crisis reaches the table
In a more everyday vein, he might appear in the Financial Times, where Chris Kay writes about India’s cooking gas crisis. The article begins with a small but significant scene: a dosa dish that arrives smaller and of lower quality than it is supposed to in a restaurant in south Mumbai, before the waiter apologizes and explains that the country is facing a shortage of cooking gas that has prompted many restaurants to resort to electric stoves or hot plates, and even to charcoal and firewood.
According to the article, the war on Iran has severely reduced India’s supply of liquefied petroleum gas, at a time when the country depends on the Middle East for about 90% of its foreign imports of this fuel, while most of these shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The impact is not limited to restaurants. India, which is the second largest importer of liquefied petroleum gas in the world, found itself facing a crisis that affected homes first: queues to obtain cylinders, and a widespread demand for induction stoves that quickly ran out of stores and electronic platforms, while only 5% of homes are connected to gas networks via pipes, while families already constitute between 85% and 90% of consumption.
According to the article, the government was forced to ration supplies to commercial users and order shipments from places as far away as the United States, but this did not prevent the crisis from turning into a highly sensitive political issue.
The Financial Times article goes on to paint a broader picture of the growing impact: restaurants and hotels are reducing their menus, cafeterias are reducing breakfast and lunch options, small food and tea vendors are switching to diesel stoves or closing their doors completely because they cannot afford the cost of electricity, and daily wage workers are leaving cities after being exhausted by black market prices.
Even high-end cafes were not spared; The article shows a sign at a popular café in Puducherry apologizing to customers for temporarily stopping bread sales due to gas shortages, with the number of daily baking times cut by almost half.
The crisis is becoming more sensitive in India because it is hitting Narendra Modi’s government at a critical electoral moment, while he himself describes the situation as “worrying.”
The article also believes that what is happening constitutes a warning bell for all of India, whose energy security was tested twice in a short period: first with the Russian oil disturbances, then with the Iran war. That is why the newspaper quotes Bernstein analysts as saying that switching to electric alternatives is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity.
As for the government, according to the article, it is trying to calm the panic by pursuing monopolists and the black market, and by emphasizing that India is still “an oasis of energy security, availability, and resilience,” but the scenes of queues, empty kitchens, and empty tables indicate that the impact of the war preceded the reassurances of the official discourse.
A war that transcends both sides
The impact of the war is not limited to airlines or Indian kitchens. In Britain, recent reports have warned that its repercussions have begun to reach daily life itself, from an increase in the prices of some common medicines in England by between 20% and 30%, to a decline in household confidence with fears of a new wave of high prices, while the cost of fuel has begun to add tens of euros to European airline tickets and threatens a shortage of supplies at some airports if the crisis lasts for a long time.
The circle of those affected also expands to tourism in Thailand and fuel rationing in Sri Lanka, making the war an event that is felt again from the pharmacy and the kitchen to the airport.
