Airlines Slash Thousands of Flights as Jet Fuel Prices Double from Hormuz Disruptions

President Donald Trump's approval ratings have fallen to their lowest levels of his two terms as the conflict with Iran disrupts global energy flows, pushes gasoline and jet fuel prices higher, and forces painful adjustments across industries. The latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey, conducted after nearly two months of blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, shows clear public dissatisfaction with both the president's overall performance and his handling of the economy.

The poll of 1,000 adults nationwide found 40 percent approving of Trump's job performance, a five-point decline from the previous quarter, while disapproval rose six points to 58 percent. The resulting net approval rating of negative 18 marks the weakest reading since the survey began tracking him. The drop echoes the sharp decline seen in 2020 during the pandemic but now stems from energy market chaos traceable to the U.S.-Iran war.

Republicans are not immune. The president's net approval within his own party fell 17 points to its lowest level since 2017. Approval among non-MAGA Republicans dropped 19 points to 60 percent, even as self-identified MAGA voters remained steadfast at 96 percent approval. Micah Roberts, the Republican pollster for the survey, described the five-point overall drop as noticeable but not catastrophic given the circumstances of war, inflation, and rising pump prices. He noted that the president retains intense loyalty from his core base.

The economic mechanisms behind the discontent are straightforward. The Strait of Hormuz, which carried roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the fighting, has been effectively closed to commercial traffic. Both sides in the stop-start peace negotiations have treated the waterway as leverage, leaving oil exporters scrambling for workarounds that do not exist at sufficient scale. Alternative pipelines and routes around the Persian Gulf remain limited by capacity, geography, and infrastructure that cannot quickly replace tanker traffic through the narrow channel.

This constriction has sent energy prices higher across the board. Global oil markets reflect the sudden loss of reliable supply from a region long known to be vulnerable. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, described the situation as one policymakers had been warned about for years. He likened the global $110 trillion economy to a system held hostage by "a couple of hundred men with guns across a 50-kilometer stretch of strait." Birol repeated his longstanding call for nations to diversify supply routes and reduce dependence on single chokepoints such as Hormuz, the Suez Canal, or the Panama Canal. The current crisis, he suggested, proves the cost of ignoring those warnings.

The aviation industry is feeling the pain in concrete terms. Lufthansa Group announced Thursday that it will remove 20,000 short-haul flights from its schedule through October. The German carrier, one of Europe's largest, plans to cancel less profitable routes and concentrate operations around its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. The move is expected to save approximately 40,000 tonnes of jet fuel. The airline had already moved up the retirement of 27 planes from its CityLine subsidiary.

Jet fuel prices have more than doubled in certain markets since the conflict began in late February. European carriers are especially exposed because roughly 75 percent of the region's jet fuel imports come from the Middle East. With supplies tight and prices elevated, airlines face higher operating costs that cannot easily be passed on to consumers without further dampening demand. Lufthansa said it has secured fuel for the immediate weeks ahead and is pursuing additional procurement options, but the broader industry is bracing for a summer of constrained capacity.

These developments illustrate the tight connection between foreign policy, energy markets, and domestic economic sentiment. When a vital shipping lane is removed from the global supply chain, the consequences cascade quickly. Higher gasoline prices hit households directly. Elevated jet fuel costs ripple through airfares, cargo shipping, and business travel. Reduced flight schedules affect tourism, employment in aviation and related sectors, and the broader flow of commerce. The survey's negative shift in economic approval suggests Americans are registering these effects in real time.

Independent analysts have long pointed out that reliance on unstable regions for energy creates predictable vulnerabilities. Decades of policy choices left the United States and its allies exposed when conflict closed the Hormuz route. While the original strategic aims of the confrontation with Iran may have centered on security threats, the economic trade-offs are now measurable in polling data, corporate earnings warnings, and canceled flights.

The administration faces the classic dilemma of balancing national security imperatives against the immediate costs borne by consumers and businesses. Pollster Roberts observed that the president retains strong backing from his most committed supporters even as broader Republican enthusiasm has cooled. Whether that coalition holds will depend in part on how quickly energy markets stabilize and whether alternative supply arrangements can be expanded before the economic drag becomes more severe.

For now, the data show a president confronting the oldest reality in statecraft: wars are easier to begin than to contain, and their economic consequences often outlast the fighting itself. The Lufthansa cuts and the Hormuz blockade are not abstract. They translate into higher prices at the pump, fewer flights, slower growth, and, as the latest survey demonstrates, declining public confidence.