European and US airlines could remove more frequencies in the winter and ground more aircraft than usual as high fuel costs make weaker services uneconomic, aviation analyst John Strickland has warned.

Strickland, who heads up JLS Consulting, made the prediction during a World Aviation Festival webinar on 16 July, in which he discussed how the aviation industry can respond to the current jet fuel crisis.

“No matter how much airlines reduced prices to stimulate demand, they still wouldn’t be covering the cost of the higher price of fuel. And I think we’ll see more planes on the ground as a result,” he said.