By Teddy Nwanunobi
TotalEnergies have expressed concern over rising cost of Jet A1 or aviation fuel, which is affecting the operations of airlines in the country.
Airlines, among other challenges, are experiencing overhead cost, impact of continuous importation of Jet A1, inability of airline operators to have easy access to foreign exchange, and airport taxes among others, which have been attributed to the skyrocketing price of the product in Nigeria.
The General Manager of TotalEnergies Nigeria, Rabiu Abdulmutalib, in his presentation at a conference organised by aviation correspondents in Lagos State, recently said that unless the aforementioned challenges are resolved, the prices of the products would continue to rise in the country.
A litre of aviation fuel in the domestic scene goes for as high as N305 and N315 per litre, depending on the airport an airline is buying from.
According to him, the inability of local refineries to refine the product locally, high investment in logistics, high cost of aviation fuel handling equipment like re-fuellers, hydrant dispenser/servicers, and filtration systems are also contributing to the sordid situation in the local market.
To address the current situation, Abdulmutalib canvassed for proper coordination among relevant government agencies in monitoring and enforcement of all standards along the supply chain.
Some of the agencies, he mentioned, included: the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), amongst others.
To avoid contamination of the product, Abdulmutalib opined that organisaitons should not compromise any of the established international and local regulations on handling JET A1 from refinery to aircraft, adherence to international specification checklist for aviation fuel recognised by major aviation fuel suppliers in the world and checking competencies and capacities of laboratories contracted for testing parameters of the product in the country.
He also appealed for government intervention for easy access to Forex, especially aviation fuel importers and national sensitisation and awareness on monitoring filtration phase out from all aviation handling systems in Nigeria before the deadline of July 2023.