The scarcity of aviation fuel, popularly
called Jet-A1, did not only disrupt flight activities at airports
across the country on Monday, but also affected private and government
programmes in the Federal Capital Territory.
It was learnt that several programmes in
Abuja were either postponed or delayed as key personnel who were to
anchor strategic meetings could not arrive on schedule or did not arrive
at all.
Several domestic airlines stated that
the scarcity of the product had resulted in the delay or outright
cancellation of some of their flights.
Hundreds of air travellers were left
stranded at the domestic terminals of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in
Lagos, as the airlines were forced to either cancel or reschedule most
of their flights due to the scarcity of aviation fuel.
As of 5pm, stranded passengers heading
for Abuja from the Lagos airport were unable to book substitute flights
as all flights to the Federal Capital Territory had been fully booked.
At the Federal Ministry of
Transportation in Abuja, a programme that was meant to hold around noon
did not commence until around 2.30pm despite the fact that the Minister
of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, was seated for hours waiting for
committee members who were supposed to make presentations at the event.
It was later gathered that the committee
members could not make it to Abuja as a result of the problems caused
by the non-availability of aviation fuel, which affected their flights.
Similarly, some officials of power
distribution companies who were meant to meet in Abuja by 2pm on Monday
to discuss the recent court ruling on tariff reversal could not make it
to the venue.
Arik Air announced that it was grappling
with flight schedule disruptions due to the severity of the situation
across the country.
It stated that since the beginning of
the year, the country had been grappling with inadequate supply of
aviation fuel leading in most cases to severe shortage of the product
and consequently the disruption of flight operations.
According to the carrier, for the past
week, it has had to face another round of aviation fuel scarcity, which
got worse over the weekend, leading to many flight delays and
cancellations.
The airline operates an average of 120 daily flights requiring about 500,000 litres of fuel each day.
Arik stated, “Due to the large number of
domestic and international flights, it is the most impacted by the
inability of oil marketers to meet its daily fuel requirements on a
timely and consistent basis. This has forced the airline to postpone
flights, while waiting for the fuel marketers to source and deliver the
product.
“On many occasions, despite all efforts
in engaging the marketers if fuel cannot be sourced, the flights may
eventually be cancelled, causing not only revenue loss for the airline,
but also inconveniencing or stranding the passengers.”
According to the carrier, at the root of
the fuel supply crisis is low stock due to the inability of marketers
to source for the foreign exchange to import more Jet-A1 fuel into the
country.
It added, “There is also a distribution
challenge as the discharging of vessels bringing Jet-A1 and other
petroleum products are done in the same Jetty, and loading various
trucks for distribution to cities like Kano or Abuja takes considerable
effort and time.”
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