A local aviation industry body, which represents all major carriers in SA and the region, has warned that jet fuel shortages at Cape Town International Airport are likely to lead to disruptions to airline schedules and possibly cancelled flights at a time when the industry and the economy can ill afford it.
The Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) said on Tuesday the escalation of jet fuel rations at one of Africa’s busiest airports throws into sharp focus SA’s vulnerability because of its reliance on imported jet fuel.
SA depends on jet fuel supply through local production and imports, which account for 70% of supply.
“We call on government and fuel suppliers to move with urgency and put in place a far more robust resilience plan to ensure sufficient stocks of aviation fuel are always available for our airlines,” the association said in a statement.
The Airports Company SA (Acsa), which runs SA’s airports, announced on Monday that it had issued a notice requesting airlines to limit refuelling at the Cape Town International Airport due to dwindling supplies. The airport is the primary international facility serving Cape Town, one of SA’s main tourism hubs.
Acsa said the shortage was caused by the delay of a vessel bringing in the fuel due to bad weather. It said there were about four days worth of stock left, but it was confident it would have it up to about six days by the end of this week.
The airport generally aims to maintain more than six days of stock. Additional fuel is stored off site by various fuel suppliers to be delivered when required.
The situation has sparked fears that the recovery of travel and tourism could be derailed going into the traditionally busy end-of-year season.
The AASA said although local and regional short-haul airlines are able to tanker fuel, or carry more than optimally required for a single flight, to maintain their schedules, and in doing so they incur additional costs. The extra fuel load increases the overall weight of each plane, which burns more fuel just to carry the extra contingency supply.
This puts further cost pressures on airlines at a time when they are already struggling with an over 100% rise in the price of jet fuel, higher finance charges and interest rates, as well as increased labour and other costs.
Local airlines also depend heavily on feed traffic to and from long-haul intercontinental carriers, many of which will be unable to tanker fuel over such great distances. Those airlines may have to resort to refuelling stops en route, or fly to Johannesburg or Durban to fill up before starting their long north- and eastbound return flights, the association said.
“In such instances we urge government to waive the additional air navigation and airport fees airlines will incur in order to comply with the fuel rations at Cape Town and continue to provide the intercontinental connectivity that local airlines and the entire region’s economy depends on,” the association said.
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