Chaos at OR Tambo International Airport as technical problem affects airlines refuelling

Planes at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg were grounded on Wednesday due to a shortage of fuel caused by a technical problem at the storage facility.

This left passengers waiting for hours for their flights.

A frustrated passenger said he was supposed to depart for Cape Town shortly before 6am, but after two hours sitting in the plane, they were told they could not take off as there was no fuel.

Passenger Goodman Mthombeni told TimesLIVE  he was meant to depart to Cape Town on a FlySafair flight, but they were told to disembark while they waited for the plane to be refuelled.

He was taking his family on holiday and had booked a trip to Table Mountain at 1pm. He said he will have to arrange to be refunded as they won’t make it on time. 

“After two hours, we were advised to get off to get food and stretch. It has been four hours and we were told to return because they managed to secure fuel from the supplier.

“There was an international flight next to us which was meant to depart at 3am but only left at around 9am,” Mthombeni said.

He said the fuel shortage has caused chaos at the airport, leaving passengers frustrated.

“It is chaotic at the terminals. Passengers are frustrated. Some were supposed to connect to other flights and some are waiting to receive people. There are no buses to ferry people to other sides of the airport,” he said.

Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) said the challenge was getting fuel supplies from the storage facility to the main hydrant system.

The technical glitch affected refuelling of aircraft, Acsa said.

“OR Tambo fuel services company used a manual system through fuel browsers to fuel aircraft. Technicians are on site and have resolved the issue.”

Acsa emphasised there is no shortage of fuel but rather a technical problem that will affect domestic and international flights.

Tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu has engaged with the Airlines Association of Southern Africa and has been assured Acsa is working hard to resolve the problem.

“On behalf of the government I wish to apologise profusely to all affected travellers for the inconvenience experienced. I have been assured systems are in place to resolve the delays,” Sisulu said.

At about 2pm, ACSA said: "We encourage all passengers travelling today to proceed to the airport in accordance with their flight schedules. There has been a rapid reduction in the processing time for delayed flights."

TimesLIVE

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