Cape Town – In an effort to avoid cancellations and minimise disruption due to fuel shortage at Cape Town International Airport (CTIA), fuel suppliers and airlines met on Friday regarding the shortage.
Last year, US airlines cancelled their flights to the airport due to jet fuel shortage.
At the time Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) airline association called on government and fuel suppliers to put in place a resilience plan to ensure sufficient stocks of aviation fuel.
According to News24, the jet fuel crisis at CTIA is due to the largest supplier not being able to meet demand because of technical issues caused by load shedding.
On Thursday, Domestic airlines were informed of the supply issue and that tankering fuel was required immediately, the report said.
The report said the large supplier was only able to supply airlines with only a fraction of what it normally did.
A source in the aviation industry advised for ACSA to instruct international carriers to refuel in Durban or Johannesburg and require all domestic airlines to tanker “without bumping passengers, the report said.
However, TimesLIVE reported that airlines have been allocated fuel for the next few days following discussions between fuel suppliers, airlines and stakeholders on Friday.
The discussion facilitated by ACSA was aimed at ensuring that adequate levels of fuel stock were available to ensure operations continue, the report said.
“Subsequently, at a meeting today (Saturday), a major fuel supplier advised that the production of Jet A1 has improved over the past 24 hours and additional product has been prioritised to supplement local production. Acsa is closely monitoring the situation with fuel suppliers, specifically the Jet A1 delivery rates to the airport.
However, the low fuel levels might have minimal impact on flights in and out of CTIA, the report said.
Travellers have been asked to monitor their flight schedules and stay informed via the ACSA App add relevant airline websites, the report said.
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
