A Lufthansa passenger jet refuels at the gate at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France in March, 2026. Isabelle Souriment + Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Isabelle Souriment + Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images The soaring cost of jet fuel is forcing European airlines to cut thousands of flights through the peak summer travel season as the ongoing impact of the war in Iran ripples across the aviation industry. Jet fuel prices have roughly doubled since the start of the U.S. and Israeli-led war, and airlines in Europe — which imports about a third of its jet fuel, largely from the Middle East — have been hit particularly hard. German airline Lufthansa said this week it would cut 20,000 flights from its schedule through the fall to save on jet fuel. "That's massive," said Rico Luman, a senior economist for ING Research based in Amsterdam. European airlines might be preparing to make deeper cuts to their schedules as well, he said.…