News
Auckland Airport crippled by fuel shortage
September 22nd 2017
Airline operations at Auckland Airport were seriously disrupted this week after a pipeline supplying the airfield with jet fuel had to be shut down for repairs. Read More » The pipeline is expected to be fixed by Tuesday, at the latest.
Air New Zealand (Air NZ) was forced to cancel scores of flights, mostly domestic and trans-Tasman hops, while many of its long-haul services had to make refuelling stops in Australia or the Pacific Islands.
The flag carrier said the fuel shortage was “unlikely to have a material impact” on its 2017/18 financial results. “All going to plan, we expect to deliver jet fuel via the pipeline between midday Sunday and midday Tuesday,” Refining New Zealand CEO, Sjoerd Post, said. “From that point, Refining NZ expects it will take another 30 hours for the jet fuel to settle, for recertification to be obtained, and to transport to Auckland International Airport.”
“We are continuing to do everything we can to respond to this infrastructure challenge and further disruption is likely as we move through the rest of this week,” said Air NZ chief operations, integrity and standards officer, David Morgan.
On Wednesday, Qantas sent a B747-400ER on a special 65,000kg fuel delivery flight to Auckland. It also said one of its scheduled A330-200 flights from Sydney to Auckland took on extra fuel on departure from Australia, providing an additional 10,000kg of jet fuel.
