Aviation fuel hits N840/litre, airlines predict flight delays

Local airlines under the aegis of the Airline Operators of Nigeria have disclosed that aviation fuel popularly known as Jet A1 has become scarce, a situation according to them may lead to flight delays.

The Assistant Secretary Airline Operators of Nigeria, Ewos Iroro, disclosed this to our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday.

“Aviation fuel is still not available, there is still scarcity of the fuel and it is flight causing delays among airlines.”

Also, the spokesperson for Ibom Air, Annie Essienette said aviation fuel price as of Tuesday was N800/litre in Lagos, N840/litre in Uyo, N840/litre in Abuja and N840/litre in Port-Harcourt.

An impeccable source within the domestic airlines said the price had been fluctuating, describing the market as deregulated one where price changes.

He said, “Sometimes, it is between N700 and N900 but it is between both prices. It depends on how much a marketer buys that he will sell because it is a deregulated market.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian aviation sector spent $192bn in 2022 on aviation fuel alone, according to a report by Philips Consulting Limited.

The report titled, ‘Nigeria’s Aviation Industry Customer Satisfactory Survey Report 2022’, showed that in the first six months of 2022, the jet fuel price rose to 70 per cent.

The report noted that the figure indicated one of the steepest jump in jet fuel since 2022.

It also said that the increased jet fuel price now represented a significant challenge for the airlines in the first six months of 2022.

“Fuel is the industry’s largest cost item with $192bn in 2022. The ongoing war in Ukraine, which keeps prices for Brent Oil high, continues exacerbating the situation. The increased jet fuel price now represents a significant challenge for airlines in the first six months of 2022. Jet fuel price rose more than 70percent indicating one of the steepest jumps in jet fuel price since 2022. The rise in jet fuel is driven by the soaring crude oil price following Russia invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 when the Brent crude oil price rose by 11percent.”

The report said that Airbus was facing challenges in improving its production rate of A320 family to 65 per cent in mid-2023.

It added that Boeing had a massive overhang of already built parts in inventory.

“Particularly with the 787, there remains a lack of certainly around production. However, the supply chain bottlenecks cascade throughout the aerospace industry hitting companies such single-engine light aircraft manufacturers such as Cirrus-Aircraft.”