Africa-Press – South-Africa. US giant United Airlines has cancelled its flight from Newark to Cape Town on Monday as well as a return flight on Tuesday, because the airline can’t get fuel at Cape Town International Airport.
On Saturday, passengers who booked for the flights received a message informing them of the cancellation. “Your flight was cancelled because we were unable to fuel your plane,” the airline said. It added that the flight’s status may still change.
News24 Business reported this week that jet fuel supplies at the airport were running low because a ship carrying much-needed stock has been delayed due to continued bad weather. It was supposed to arrive a week ago.
Rajesh Dana, port manager of the Cape Town Port, said the vessel in question was expected to arrive in the port on Sunday evening.
“As the port, we are on high alert and tracking the vessel to ensure all resources are ready to receive it when it arrives. The vessel will be receiving berthing priority and we do not foresee any challenges servicing the vessel when it arrives,” Dana told News24 Business.
Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) issued a notice to airlines on Saturday that there may be further delays in the delivery of jet fuel to the airport in Cape Town and imposed restrictions on fuel uplift to conserve fuel stocks until a new consignment arrives.
On Friday, some domestic airlines were rationed to 50% of the fuel they usually fill up on in Cape Town.
ACSA also asked airlines to refuel at other airports.
While ACSA said on Thursday that it had four days of stock left, one airline insider, who wants to remain anonymous, accused the group of not being transparent about the true extent of the crisis.
ACSA says it will continue to work with airlines to limit the impact on flight operations, which includes reducing passenger loads.
It requests passengers to continuously monitor developments around this issue.
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