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A UPS refuelling truck at RFD © Dawid Swierczek
Amid warnings of fuel shortages across European airports, provoked by the Israeli-US war against Iran, charter brokers are cognisant of the concerns but appear confident it will not be an issue for them.
Global cargo director at Air Charter Service Dan Morgan-Evans told The Loadstar that, despite all the noise surrounding fuel shortages. it had not yet become a reality for them.
“Obviously, there are concerns about fuel shortages, but so far it has been okay for us and fuel has been ready and available – although we are aware it is a potential hurdle we may have to cross,” said Mr Morgan-Evans.
“We operated a series of flights into Australia a fortnight or so back that we thought may have some issues with availability, but have managed the situation largely by tankering.”
Keeping close contact with the fuel companies, the airlines, and customers has helped the ACS team, but even they were unable to mitigate what Mr Morgan-Evans described as the “initial shock to the system” when Israel and the US hit Iran on 28 February, and charter flights locked in before the campaign found themselves subjected to fuel price surcharges.
“There was some pushback at that point, but following that we put a crisis team together and, since then, we have had a global communications team that put together an update on a daily basis to our global network,” Mr Morgan-Evans continued.
“We communicate with our customers on various issues on a daily basis, letting them know what the situation on the ground is like, including fuel availability.”
Per IATA, jet fuel prices rose from circa $99 per barrel to more than $200 in two months, with Airports Council International Europe warning prolonged a disruption to fuel flows through the Strait of Hormuz could trigger a “systemic jet fuel shortage” within weeks.
Writing to the European Commission, the council pointed out the continent’s exposure as it called for contingency planning and alternative sourcing options.
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