Pretoria – Cape Town International Airport has been hit by jet fuel shortages, however, the company has assured passengers that it won’t cause flight disruptions and fuel would be available as of next week.
The airport only has a few days of jet fuel left after a shipment that was due to arrive some time last week experienced delays at sea.
In an interview with eNCA, regional general manager at the Cape Town International Airport Mark Maclean, said the vessel was expected to arrive on Sunday or Monday and they would start delivering probably by Monday or Tuesday.
“The situation at the moment remains challenging and we are working on securing more fuel stocks… I’m pleased to say there are no disruptions to any of the airline schedules, so currently operations continue to function as per normal.
“But the rest of the week is certainly going to be challenging,” he said.
Mclean said operation disruptions exist but they are working hard with each airline and fuel supply to minimise or avoid the disturbance.
“Those possibilities exist and we are concerned about that but we are making absolutely every effort to ensure that it does not happen. We are working with the fuel supplies to continue to bring additional jets to the airport.”
Airline Association SA CEO Aaron Munetsi is attending an aviation summit in Montreal, Canada.
He told the broadcaster that the fuel challenge was not only unique to South Africa.
“There are similarities in terms of the challenges the aviation world is facing, everybody is facing the critical challenge of the cost of aviation fuel.
“We are also facing the same challenge in terms of maintaining sustainability, reducing carbon emissions and so on and so forth.
“We are not in a world where we are isolated, however, we have our own challenges that are peculiar to us back home,” he said.
— Airports Company SA (@Airports_ZA) September 27, 2022
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