There is no doubt that the
current scarcity of aviation fuel has hit harder on the operations of airlines
in Nigeria but there is good news. According to Arik Air’s Public Relations and
Communications Manager, Adebanji Ola, “Marketers have assured that the
situation would improve this week as they are expecting delivery of additional
stock.”
Arik Air is appealing to
their teeming patrons to bear with them as government and marketers are making efforts
to ameliorate the difficult situation at hand. “While the Federal Government
and oil marketers are working hard to address the supply and distribution
challenges, we appeal to our guests to bear with us as they may experience
flights delays and cancelations because of the prevailing scarcity of aviation
fuel across the country”.
Adebanji futher explained
that the airline is grappling with flight schedule disruptions due to the
severe scarcity of aviation fuel (Jet A1) across the country.
He said “since the beginning of this year,
Nigeria has 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. For the past week, the airline had to face another round of
aviation fuel scarcity which got worse over this weekend leading to many flight
delays and cancellations.”
As the operator of largest
flights in West Africa, the airline operates an average of 120 daily flights
requiring about 500,000 liters of fuel daily. “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 could not be sourced, the flights
may eventually be cancelled causing not only revenue loss for the airline but
also inconveniencing or stranding the passengers.”
Relaying the challenge, Arik
Air has identified supply and infrastructural challenges of the marketers as
some of the key factors responsible for the epileptic supply of aviation fuel.
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. 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. The situation in the north is even more difficult
since the product takes longer to be delivered due to the trucking distance. Oil
marketers have also resorted to trucking of aviation fuel to the airports
because hydrants are not consistently available at the airports.
Arik Air has also stated
that it is working on a longer term plan which will be finalized in the coming
months to mitigate this situation and to be in a better position to address
such supply shortages and delays.
Where flights are likely
to be delayed or cancelled, Arik Air will notify passengers through SMS and do
all possible to accommodate passengers on the first available alternate flight.
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