The Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) has said it has taken note, with grave concern, of the imposition of jet fuel rations at Cape Town International Airport.
These restrictions are now likely to result in disruptions to airline schedules and possibly cancelled flights at a time when the industry and the economy can ill afford it.
AASA said on Wednesday, “We appreciate the efforts being made by the Airports Company South Africa to manage fuel stocks at the Cape Town International airport. However, the escalation of jet fuel rations throws into sharp focus South Africa’s vulnerability because of its reliance on imported jet fuel. We call on the 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.”
Despite the fuel shortage at South Africa’s second-largest airport, flights are arriving and departing as scheduled.
This comes after the airport asked airlines on Monday to limit fuel intake in Cape Town.
The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) said on Twitter Tuesday that it has a contingency plan to tackle the issue.
— Airports Company SA (@Airports_ZA) September 27, 2022
AASA went on to state, “Although our local and regional short-haul airlines are able to tanker fuel (i.e. carry more than optimally required for a single flight) to maintain their schedules, in doing so they must incur additional costs as the extra fuel load increases the overall weight of each plane, in turn burning 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 a more than 100 percent 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 inter-continental carriers, many of which will be unable to tanker fuel over such great distances.
Those airlines may have to resort to intermediate en-route refuelling stops, or fly to Johannesburg or Durban to fill up before starting their long north and east-bound return flights.
“In such instances we urge the government to waive the additional en-route air navigation and airport fees airlines will incur in order to comply with the fuel rations at Cape Town and continue to provide the inter-continental connectivity that local airlines and the entire region’s economy depends on,” AASA further stated.
BUSINESS REPORT