Consortium waiting in the wings to supply fuel to Cape Town airport after BP's exit

The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) says BP’s decision to quit its aviation fuel business in South Africa will not jeopardise supply at Cape Town International Airport.

BP announced the decision on Wednesday. 

Acsa’s Cape Town regional general manager Mark Maclean said the airport had enough fuel-supply partners.

While speculation points to South Africa's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and potential exposure to Russian businesses, Maclean said BP had not given reasons for withdrawing from aviation in South Africa, other than to say the decision was strategic.

“Air BP used to be the managing participant that operated a fuel farm. They were also operating all the dispensers that pumped fuel into the aircraft. When they withdrew on February 1, we had to find a new partner through the Skytanking consortium. We found a new partner in Skytanking Calulo,” said Maclean.

While Acsa and Cape Town International Airport were “sorry to see them go”, they did not foresee any negative impact on fuel supply due to BP’s departure, he said, adding that there were four dominant jet-fuel suppliers to service carriers and their aircraft at the facility.

Maclean said the airport was working to push its domestic volumes up to pre-pandemic levels and had processed 220 flights a day in 2023, compared with 300 a day in 2019.

Regarding its master plan, the airport could grow its capacity from 21-million passengers a year to 45-million, with two new runways and other airport infrastructure, he said.

The projects were delayed by the pandemic, but would all be concluded within five years as operations return to full capacity, Maclean added. 

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