Cape Town - Key players in the aviation industry are keen to see changes to the way jet aviation fuel is distributed, which they claim is inefficient and monopolistic.
A series of interlocking arrangements, dating from the apartheid era, favour Sasol and its Natref refinery. Sasol supplies the majority of jet aviation blends to Johannesburg International Airport, which accounts for roughly three-quarters of South Africa's daily jet aviation fuel requirement.
Since the closure of the Natref refinery, the limitations of this exclusive arrangement have become clear.
Sasol is supplying jet fuel from its synthetic fuel centre operations in Gauteng. But the Airports Company SA (Acsa) and many of the major airlines are experiencing a two-fold problem: supplies are erratic and the cost of jet aviation fuel is between 10 percent and 15 percent more than at most other points of departure.
Shortages occur about every fortnight, with airport reserves often falling to supplies for one-and-a-half days versus the European norm of four to five days.
Many airlines, both domestic and international, have resorted to filling up at the coast. Many planes for long-haul flights arrive with a full fuel load and merely top up before leaving Johannesburg.
This has exacerbated the problems of distributors, who find it increasingly difficult to match supply to demand.
The other grievance is the high cost of jet aviation fuel. While some attempt to explain this away as an economy-of-scale issue, it encourages airlines not to source fuel in South Africa and it makes South Africa less competitive than many other destinations, where landing rights and fuel costs are lower.
For these reasons the airlines and associated industries are keen to revise the existing legislation to allow for the regular importation of jet aviation fuel.
While discussions are under way to have a second delivery pipeline, in addition to the existing one and the railway line at the airport, legislation has been tabled, as a white paper called the Draft Petroleum Pipelines Bill, that would create a regulator. It has provisions that would allow companies and/or consortia to invest in pipelines.
If this becomes law there is a strong chance that a consortium of airlines, with SA Airways as a prime mover, and Acsa, would be interested in such a venture.