Major airport runs out of fuel as tourists face delays – flights cancelled | Travel News | Travel
A major airport in Italy has run out of fuel, leading to flight cancellations, according to reports. Brindisi Airport said on Monday it had run out of jet fuel and asked airlines to refuel elsewhere.
The airport was expected to remain without fuel until at least 2pm on Tuesday, according to a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) issued on Monday. However, Antonio Maria Vasile, president of Aeroporti di Puglia, which operates airports across southern Italy’s Apulia region, insisted there was “no emergency regarding the availability of fuel at Apulian airports”.“Fuel supplies continue regularly and there is no risk of an imminent shortage,” Mr Vasile told Adnkronos. He said the disruption was caused by knock-on effects from problems at other airports. “In practice, aircraft arriving from Milan, Bologna and Venice refuelled in Brindisi, significantly reducing reserve supplies,” he said, adding that stocks are expected to be replenished today.
The NOTAM issued by the Apulian airport advises airlines to refuel elsewhere until at least 2pm on Tuesday, April 7.
Reggio Calabria, where there is a limit of 3,000 litres per aircraft, and Pescara, which has only one fuel tanker available, bring the total number of airports facing restrictions to six.
According to Il Giornale, one of Italy’s biggest news papers, president Pierluigi Di Palma of ENAC, Italy’s national civil aviation authority said the shortage was only temporary and linked to increased demand over the Easter holidays – rather than the war in Iran or the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The increase in holiday-related traffic has reportedly “hightlighted an existing problem” in the supply of jet fuel.
Other major Italian airports are also facing problems, with Bologna Airport, Milan Linate Airport, Treviso Airport and Venice Marco Polo Airport introducing restrictions on refuelling following a notice issued by Air BP over the weekend.
Normally, planes take off with little fuel, Di Palma went on to say, i.e. the bare minimum, for weight and cost reasons.
When some airports begin to run low on fuel, aircraft departing from those locations tend to take on extra supplies, creating a knock-on effect that can lead to temporary shortages elsewhere.
Di Palma added that it was an issue that had emerged at some airports but would not normally have made headlines.
However, he said the knock-on effect across multiple airports, combined with the ongoing war, had heightened concerns about the situation.
ENAC president Pierluigi Di Palma said Italy currently has around seven months’ worth of fuel supplies, with similar stock levels across the rest of Europe.
He said the issue is more to do with airport storage infrastructure than fuel availability, adding that investment programmes are already under way to expand storage capacity.
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