Marketers blame aviation fuel price hike, scarcity on delayed payment

As airlines continue to experience delays over scarcity of aviation fuel called Jet A1, petroleum marketers on Wednesday blamed some airlines for their failure to meet payment obligations.

The Chief Executive Officer and Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr Clement Isong, said access to forex is difficult amidst rising international oil prices. Hence, marketers sell the fuel to airlines that can pay immediately.

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“If you are a supplier and have someone to pay in advance and give you cash to pay and you have another that requires credit, you’d give to the person who has cash to pay in advance,” said Isong.

Daily Trust reports that domestic airlines on Tuesday raised concerns as Jet A1 price rose to over N600, a N100 within 24 hours.

On Wednesday, United Nigeria Airlines, apologised to its passengers over the disruption “due to the current situation in supply of Jet-A1 fuel at various airports in the country.

The airline said, “We have been making efforts to secure an adequate supply of Aviation fuel so as to sustain scheduled flight operations and ensure you arrive at your destination safely.

“However, our efforts have not yielded the desired results as Aviation fuel has become scarce and supply dynamics changed.”

Air Peace had also in a statement confirmed the scarcity of jet fuel supply, explaining that it has tried to minimise the effect of the situation on its passengers.

But the MOMAN boss attributed the situation to the rise of crude in the international market and access to foreign exchange in Nigeria.

He also hinted that any airline that meet payment obligations with marketers would not experience the challenge.

Isong said, “Some airlines will do better than others because they are efficiently run and airlines not managed well will struggle. Marketers importing this product are not hoarding aviation fuel, they want to sell but remember the sale is not complete until the money is collected.”