One of the many concerns in Nigerian airlines is the disruption and unreliable supply of aviation fuel, which most often hamper airline operations.

Many of the flight cancelations on domestic operations are due to delay in fuel supply. Besides the high cost of the product, which increases at the airports located up north, the supply of the product is fraught with hitches. Airline operators are of the view that as long as the product is being imported and transported through Apapa in Lagos, the price of aviation fuel would always be high, and the supply would always be inefficient. The airlines however expressed hope that if the product is refined locally the prices may come down

Last week the Chief Operating Officer of Dana Air, Obi Mbanuzuo disclosed that the lowest price of the product is N235 to N250 in Lagos and in the other parts of the country; it could be as high as N280 per litre. So overall, an aircraft loads about N2.5 million litres of fuel for a one-hour flight. The CEO of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, who also spoke about the fuel problem lamented that one of the challenges of aviation fuel is that in as much as it was deregulated officially, marketers still operate as a cartel. They do not open and compete on the prices.

Source: THISDAY

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