South Africa’s largest airline, FlySafair, says its operations will continue as planned despite Sasol Oil limiting jet fuel supply to the country’s busiest airport, OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA).
Sasol Oil experienced an unplanned shutdown at its Natref refinery, affecting its ability to meet fuel supply commitments.
“The Natref refinery has experienced an unplanned shutdown of a downstream unit, which has impacted Sasol Oil’s ability to meet its full supply commitments of certain product grades,” the company said on Wednesday.
The energy company is working to resolve the issue. In the meantime, jet fuel supply to ORTIA will be limited.
“Sasol Oil will, however, continue to partially supply its jet fuel customers at ORTIA. Sasol Oil is actively implementing mitigation measures to minimise impact on customers, and Natref is working to restore normal operations as soon as possible.”
It is currently unclear whether jet supply to other airports in the country will be affected. Sasol said it would provide further communication as the situation unfolds.
FlySafair chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon told The Citizen it is not currently looking to cancel any flights, as it has put contingencies in place for incidents like this. FlySafair carries more than half of domestic passengers.
“There have been some disruptions to the expected jet fuel supply dynamics to OR Tambo this week with a number of factors coming into play affecting various suppliers.
“For now, FlySafair operations are completely protected by contingencies we’ve put in place to temporarily increase supply from suppliers with available fuel, but we continue to monitor things and work with the various parties as the situation develops.”
The Citizen has reached out to Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) to find out what measures are in place to ensure domestic and international flights are not disrupted. Its response will be published once received.
However, Bloomberg reported that, according to the Airlines Association of Southern Africa, the Department of Energy convened an emergency meeting with Acsa and the Fuels Industry Association of Southern Africa on Wednesday afternoon.
Natref, in Sasolburg, is the country’s only inland crude-oil refinery and an important supplier of fuel to SA’s economic hub.
It is currently unclear whether flight fares will increase during this crisis.
