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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) is stepping in to ensure that Russian planes can be refuelled at its South African airports. Last year, two Russian planes could not get fuel from the large international fuel suppliers at OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airports.
Airports Company SA (ACSA) is stepping in to ensure that Russian planes can be refuelled at its South African airports. Last year, two Russian planes could not get fuel from the large international fuel suppliers at OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airports. These fuel suppliers had to adhere to the sanctions imposed on Russia by their countries of origin and their own company policies. Various Western countries, including the US and UK, imposed sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine a year ago. ACSA now has a new plan to ensure that planes associated with sanctioned friends of the South African government can be refuelled in South African airports
Currently, ACSA outsources the refuelling service at its airports to major oil companies and so-called through-putters to supply and refuel planes at its airports. A “through-putter” performs fuelling services to aircraft. The refusal by jet fuel suppliers and through-putters to refuel Russian planes was on the agenda of a briefing by ACSA of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport held recently.
ANC committee members asked ACSA for assurance that South Africa – which has not sanctioned Russia – won’t “indirectly impose” sanctions on planes from that country because jet fuel suppliers or through-putters refuse to refuel Russian planes.
ACSA CEO Mpumi Mpofu explained that historically, the supply of fuel is not handled by an airport management company. Airports issue licences to all major oil companies so they can supply jet fuel to refuel aircraft on their platforms. Airlines can decide which jet fuel supplier they use. That arrangement is outside of ACSA, said Mpofu. This forced ACSA to align with the stance of the oil companies’ headquarters and home countries in terms of sanctions against Russia. Now the ACSA board has approved a revised jet fuel strategy to look after these types of situations so that ACSA can be in full control.
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ACSA now wants to create a new process whereby oil companies only supply the fuel. A new independent operator will manage the facilities on ACSA’s behalf. The independent operator will operate the tanks and fuel hydrant and the oil companies will have to pay a fee to the operator. The new refuelling arrangement allows ACSA to provide fuel to Russian planes – or any other aircraft it wants to for that matter.
