The fuel crisis gripping the nation seems to have also hit the aviation industry as operators have advised travellers that there might be more delays and cancellations due to the scarcity of Jet fuel.
The fuel, called A1, has also be scarce and this has affected the aviation industry in the past week making local flights difficult to handle.
It was reported that TOTAL, the major supplier of the fuel imported two ships of aviation fuel, but was directed to wait until the ships with petrol were discharged. This means that the scarcity could remain even longer.
The ripple effect of this is that many passengers will be unable to be followed by their luggage with some flights with airlines favouring fuel over luggage in the fight for space.
“BA takes fuel from London and sometimes they stop in Malta so to avoid refuelling in Nigeria, even though they have a supply contract.
“The other day, Air France came to Abuja and met with Total. They normally take about 60,000 litres, but they asked for 20,000 litres, which is like a top up. That is what most foreign airlines are doing now,” an inside source told news agency Thisday.
Trucking the fuel from Apapa is another problem as delays on the road could mean it takes time for the fuel to get to the airports and then by procedure airlines have to wait for another two hours for the product to settle so that contaminants would not get into the aircraft tanks.
A senior official of Arik Air was quoted by news agency Thisday as saying priority is given to international flights so as not to lose face in the international community and also to prevent the loss of market share to foreign airlines.
“We have kept our New York, Johannesburg and London flights going because there is competition. Everyday we are looking for 850,000 litres to fuel our airplanes. So we give fuel first to London, New York and South Africa flights.
“Our London flight takes about 70,000 litres. But we are an indigenous carrier so we suffer it more and if we go and buy in London, it will be very expensive because we have to buy in foreign exchange.
“So the allegation against us by passengers is unfair. We are not saying we couldn’t do better, but the way we are being accused is unfair,” he concluded