Kiwi.com Flight Disruptions Report: Q1, 2026
The biggest factors behind Q1 2026 disruptions:
- Middle East geopolitics and airspace restrictions
- Airline operational issues, including further airline closures and route reductions
- Severe winter weather across Europe, the UK and North America
- Industrial action at airlines and airports across Europe and the Americas
Top causes of flight disruptions1 | Q1 2026
| KEY CAUSES OF DISRUPTIONS | % OF TOTAL Q1 2026* | % OF TOTAL Q1 2025 |
| Geopolitics/War/Terrorism | 77.09% | 24.66% |
| Airlie Operational Issues | 9.34% | 6.68% |
| Weather | 8.35% | 24.23% |
| Industrial Action | 3.47% | 21.19% |
| Airport Closures | 1.11% | 0.89% |
| Other (Uncategorized) | 0.64% | 18.87% |
| ATC restrictions | — | 0.83% |
| Natural Disasters | — | 2.65% |
*) Q1 2026: 104.6% increase in number of disrupted bookings year on year
Middle East tensions dominated Q1
The most significant disruptions for travelers in Q1 2026 were caused by the political tensions in the Middle East. Events connected to the conflict and regional airspace closures caused massive disruption, accounting for over three-quarters of all affected journeys for Kiwi.com customers. This marks a dramatic change from Q1 2025, where geopolitics was responsible for only about a quarter of disruptions and at a lower scale.
Tom Parry, Head of Business Resilience, Kiwi.com, commented on the findings: “The Kiwi.com Guarantee, which provides immediate credits when a flight is cancelled or significantly disrupted, was activated across tens of thousands of itineraries during the three-month period. In March alone, the peak period for cancellations related to the Middle East conflict, Kiwi.com provided over €9.17M to those affected, which is more than double the total of the previous quarter.”
Airline operational changes
Airline operational problems account for just over 9% of disruptions in Kiwi.com’s data in Q1 2026. Moldova saw a wave of cancellations across local carriers, and Flybondi in Argentina reported significant operational difficulties in January. Wizz Air closed its Vienna base and suspended routes to Abu Dhabi, and Air Albania was grounded. Ukraine’s SkyUP Malta saw continued cancellations. Aer Lingus cancelled its Manchester transatlantic service, and Ryanair reduced operations in Germany.
Industrial action still present
Although strikes made up a smaller proportion of disruptions than in Q1 2025, they remained a consistent background factor throughout the quarter. Aviation-specific action included Lufthansa staff strikes, a Spain Menzies ground-handling strike in January, and a Berlin Airport strike. Italy saw repeated general and ATC strikes across the quarter, including shorter four-hour stoppages. A Belgian national strike and an Argentine nationwide strike added further localised disruption. In late March, Spain Groundforce strikes affected multiple airports, and an airport staff strike in Nairobi closed out the quarter.
Weather impacts
Weather related disruptions accounted for just over 8% in Q1 2026, compared with nearly a quarter in Q1 2025, making it a smaller factor in relative terms. In absolute terms, severe events still caused real disruption for travellers. Storm Éowyn brought significant disruption to the UK and Ireland in January. Storm Goretti caused widespread delays across Europe. In North America, US winter storm Fern was the most significant event, with further severe weather across the Northeast. Cities including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Krakow and Vienna all saw winter-weather-related disruption, alongside Canadian winter weather and Icelandic storms.
Airport-level disruptions
A handful of smaller events also affected airports and therefore Kiwi.com travellers during the quarter. A technical failure affecting Greek air traffic control and a radar failure at Geneva Airport forced temporary closures and all operations at Aleppo Airport were suspended.
Reflecting on the quarter, Tom Parry, Head of Business Resilience, Kiwi.com said: “Q1 was shaped by events that no airline or traveller could have predicted or prevented. What matters in those moments is having something in place that supports customers immediately. The Kiwi.com Guarantee and our disruption protection paid out approximately €14.05 million in immediate credits and refunds to travellers affected this quarter and this is a measure of how seriously we take the commitment to bring our customers peace of mind when booking with Kiwi.com.”
Categorisation of causes of flight disruptions
For the purposes of this report and further internal analyses, the various events causing flight disruptions are grouped into multiple categories designed to be as comprehensive as possible.
Airline Operational IssuesOperational issues include airline insolvency, the cancellation of previously announced routes, and aircraft maintenance issues. In Q1 2026, these included Wizz Air closing its Vienna base and suspending Abu Dhabi routes and the grounding of Air Albania.
Airport Closures
Any event that causes unplanned full or partial closure of an airport. In Q1 2026, this included impacts of a Greek air traffic control technical failure, the suspension of operations at Aleppo Airport, a temporary closure at Newark Airport, and a radar failure at Geneva Airport.
Geopolitics / War / Terrorism
Geopolitical impacts cause disruptions by affecting which airspace airlines are permitted to use, whether certain routes are closed or restricted, security rules and border controls, and the stability of regions that aircraft fly through. In Q1 2026, this category covers Iran–Israel military action and associated regional monitoring across the Middle East and Venezuela airspace closures in January following the US military strike.
Industrial Action
Any disruption caused by airport or airline staff strikes, aviation-specific action such as air traffic control strikes, or national and general strikes. In Q1 2026, examples include Lufthansa staff strikes, a Spain Menzies ground-handling strike, a Berlin Airport strike, a Belgian national strike, repeated Italian general and ATC strikes, an Argentine nationwide strike, Spain Groundforce strikes in late March, and an airport staff strike in Nairobi.
Natural Disasters
Extreme events such as wildfires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, mudslides, landslides or flooding. Q1 2026 recorded no material natural disaster events impacting Kiwi.com bookings.
Weather
Significant weather events impacting air travel. In Q1 2026, these included Storm Éowyn (UK and Ireland), Storm Goretti (Europe) and US winter storm Fern. Severe winter weather also affected multiple major European airports.
Uncategorised (Other)
The uncategorised category covers any disruption event that sits outside the key categories above. In Q1 2026, this category was unusually small with just 0.64% of total disruption. This is a marked contrast to Q1 2025, where the same category reached nearly 19% on the back of the UK’s ETA rollout, the Iberian power outage and a series of one-off IT incidents.
About Kiwi.com
Kiwi.com is a leading travel technology company and online travel agency that helps travelers find the best flight deals across millions of routes. Kiwi.com offers a unique combination of low fares and peace of mind through the Kiwi.com Guarantee, providing support and protection when travel plans change.