Continued from page 48
Financial Times: “Fuel shortages are not far away in some countries [and] higher prices will be felt by all.” Fuel storage analyst Global
Insights warned of “a supply crunch ahead of peak season” in Europe, while another analyst forecast “rerouting and price adjusting rather than outright shortage”. Jet fuel prices in Europe were
double the pre-war level at the end of last week. In the US, United Airlines
chief executive Scott Kirby forecast the oil price would hit $175 a barrel last week and only return to $100 by the end of the year, describing this as “a reasonable scenario” and “definitely not the worst case”. A leading UK aviation source
told Travel Weekly: “We’re keeping a close eye and maintaining engagement with government. There is contingency planning. We’re not hearing concerns about the [immediate] availability of jet fuel. [But] there are reports of concerns in about a fortnight. There won’t necessarily be fuel shortages but there will be price increases.” Given the high price of fuel,
some carriers in Europe have suspended hedging on future supplies in the hope the war will end soon and prices fall. Ryanair chief Michael
O’Leary said last week: “I don’t think we’ll do any hedging for the next three months. Nobody is hedging with these rates.” Countries in Asia remain
worst affected by fuel shortages at present, with China – a major supplier of refined oil products including jet fuel – having halted all exports.
CMA investigates five firms over fake reviews
Ian Taylor
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced it is investigating five companies, including customer-review platform Feefo, in “a crackdown on fake and misleading reviews”. The CMA launched the
investigations across sectors including food delivery, car sales and funerals last week, saying it marked “a step up” in its work “to tackle fake reviews”. However, it has previously served notice that it has the travel sector in its sights. Feefo claims to work with more
than 900 travel businesses, including British Airways,
Jet2.com and Riviera Travel, and to have hosted more than 19 million consumer travel reviews. The CMA said its investigation
of Feefo involved the treatment of negative reviews and whether “one-star reviews were not published” on a car sales platform and therefore
Hays granted exemptions during takeovers probe
The CMA has agreed to further requests for exemptions to an Initial Enforcement Order suspending Hays Travel’s acquisitions of Polka Dot Travel and Millington Travel while it investigates whether they might lead to a “significant lessening of competition”. The exemptions, or
‘derogations’, allow Hays to provide Polka Dot and Millington
46 2 APRIL 2026
having to go through the courts. CMA chief executive Sarah
Cardell said: “We’ve given businesses time to get things right. Now we’re deploying our new powers.” The CMA issued guidance on
Sarah Cardell
“not counted towards star ratings”. The authority noted it “has not reached any conclusions about whether consumer law has been broken”. Posting fake reviews or paid-for
reviews without identifying them as such, along with hiding negative reviews or presenting inaccurate star ratings, became illegal from April last year under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) 2024. The act also gave the CMA new
powers to decide on and impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover for breaches of consumer law without
with social media marketing personnel, for Hays’ customer relationship manager to assist both in implementing a marketing platform, for Hays’ head of data to assist in importing customer data and for financial controller and accountancy assistance. A Hays senior manager will also
be allowed to provide “strategic guidance” to ensure the companies “remain going concerns, execute pre-merger business plans independently of Hays” and comply with the enforcement order, with the manager reporting to the CMA and barred from sharing information with Hays.
online reviews for businesses at the end of last August and, following a review of 100 businesses, wrote to 54 warning they should improve their compliance. The travel sector was one of 14
sectors sent CMA ‘advisory letters’ on compliance with the DMCCA, urging them to review their practices. The CMA’s initial investigation
into Feefo will not reach a conclusion until at least September. Interviewed for the Travel Weekly
Insight Report, published in February, Deloitte UK legal director Luke Golding pointed out reviews “feature heavily” in travel and warned: “Travel has been in the CMA’s sights, and it has issued guidance that it’s looking at the industry.”
Hays Travel owner Dame Irene Hays
The CMA launched an
investigation in February after halting Hays’ integration of Polka Dot and Millington in December. It must decide whether to allow the takeovers or move to a fuller investigation by April 26-27.
travelweekly.co.uk
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