‘Beggars belief’: New aviation fuel glitch has airlines fuming

An aviation fuel shortage in Tauranga has hit Air NZ. Photo / George Novak

Fresh stocks of aviation fuel have been sent to Tauranga after a supply glitch forced Air New Zealand to carry extra fuel into the city. It is the fourth problem with aviation fuel in the past six months and an airline group is calling for more oversight of suppliers.

It is understood Air bp hasn’t supplied enough fuel, meaning Air NZ needs to “tanker” or carry extra fuel so it doesn’t need to top up.

Air NZ chief operational integrity and safety officer David Morgan said it was disappointing once again to be dealing with avoidable aviation fuel supply issues.

‘‘While our customers won’t be impacted, Air New Zealand is carrying the cost for tankering extra fuel in what should have been avoidable. Fuel companies need to ensure they can meet demand.”

Airlines wear the cost of carrying extra fuel and it results in more carbon emissions.

Board of Airline Representatives (Barnz) executive director Cath O’Brien said it was disappointing that Air New Zealand has been asked to tanker fuel to accommodate urgent shortages in Tauranga.

‘‘The idea that airlines fly regularly fuel up and down the country to ensure consistent fuel supply beggars belief. Not only is it costly, it means carbon emissions are increased. Clearly, more oversight of fuel companies is required to ensure New Zealand is well supplied with fuel. Fuel tankering by airlines should not be deployed as a balancing solution.”

A BP spokesperson said ‘‘one customer’' at Tauranga Airport was requested to restrict fuel uplift for three regional flights due to a jet fuel delivery being delayed until Wednesday morning. 

‘‘Customer demand was also significantly higher than forecast. As a result, we are reviewing future forecasts with our customer.’'

Since November 2022 there have been three jet fuel shipments which have failed to meet testing requirements on arrival to New Zealand, Barnz says.

In November last year there was a failure relating to water content and in December 2022 fuel through Auckland had problems with conductivity, which led to rationing and some international flights being disrupted. A freezing point problem with fuel in Wellington also led to rationing but airlines were able to avoid disruption to passengers.

Since the Marsden Point refinery closed aviation fuel hasn’t been refined in New Zealand. Direct shipments are made to ports around the country and it is taken by road tanker (as before) to smaller centres.

Under plans unveiled last year, fuel importers and wholesalers with bulk storage facilities will have to hold minimum levels of onshore stocks of petrol, jet fuel and diesel. Minimum fuel stockholding levels for them will equate to around 28, 24 and 21 days’ worth of petrol, jet fuel and diesel respectively.

O’Brien said last month she supported any moves to improve onshore holdings of fuel.

“Barnz supports this work, and advocates for increased fuel holdings in multiple ports – rather than just Auckland. Shipping fuel by road is an increasingly difficult prospect when fuel supplies are impacted in ports beyond Auckland.”