Many air passengers across Nigerian domestic airports had their flights disrupted today as virtually all the domestic airlines operating in the country delayed, rescheduled and in some cases cancelled flights because of the scarcity of Aviation fuel hit the industry hard.
Aviation fuel is commonly referred to as Jet A1 in the industry, is the major cost component of flight operations in the Aviation industry accounting for about 40 percent of the operation cost.
The two domestic terminals at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos were full of passengers who had arrived for their flights but couldn’t go because of the fuel scarcity prevented the airlines from operating their flights.
The same situation were reported in Abuja, Kano, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Benin airports.
The scarcity of product that accounts for about 40 percent ingredients of airline flight operations became noticeable about a week ago when fuel suppliers increased the price of the product from about N415 per liter to about N440 per liter and on Tuesday the price rose to between N579 and N607 depending on airport of purchase.
Lookong at the trend: in January 2021, aviation fuel wss was sold at N190 per liter. At the end of the year 2021, it moved up to N360. Almost double. At the end of February 2022, just over a week ago, it was between N415 and N440. Today it is N579 per liter in Lagos, N599 in Abuja, N599 in Port Harcourt and N607 in Kano.
To cope with the rising cost of Jet A1 airlines had two weeks ago increased their fares by almost 90 per cent, N50,000 per economy seat on an hour journey, a fare many industry watchers regarded as outrageous.
But the situation became unbearable today when fuelers, apart from increased price across airports, demanded that airlines payment of cash upfront before service – a condition many airlines could not meet – leading to flights delays, rescheduling and in some cases outright cancellations.
In a press statement tittled: scarcity of Aviation fuel and signed by management of Ibom Air, the airline said the non availability of Jet A1 at almost all its destinations airl affected most of its flights during the day and may continue till Wednesday.
“We have encountered a situation today where aviation fuel is scarce and therefore unavailable at almost all our flight destinations. This has significantly impacted our flight schedule today and without indication when the issue will be resolved, may continue tomorrow,” the statement said.
The airline however said it was working with other fellow airlines and fuel suppliers to find a solution to the issue.
Similarly, in a statement, Arik Air made it known that scarcity of the Aviation fuel disrupted its flights in all its route network on Tuesday and was not sure what the situation would be in days to come as the situation remained unabated.
The airlines have however appealed to their value customers to bear with them as they work hard to get the situation under control.
As at the time of filing this report neither the Jet A1 suppliers nor Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) has made any official statement on the development.
