By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) said on Monday that last week’s fuel issues caused delays to 41 flights at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
On the 28th of December – passengers were left frustrated when a valve in the diesel main hydrant system malfunctioned.
Speaking after an oversight visit by the Transport Ministry, ACSA CEO Mpumi Mpofu said problems began when a fuel hydrant tightness control test failed to commence at 03:00, but the problem was being solved by 08:30, with the significant numbers of delays due to the knock-on effect on flights for the rest of the day.
Mpofu said of the 41 flights, 32 were domestic and eight were international.
The emergency shutdown valve that connects the fuel pump to the hydrant failed to actuate, and remained closed, while the manual mode of operations was attempted, but was not successful.
Maintenance staff then dissembled the valve, and it was discovered that the main centre bearing had seized, leading to the problem, she said.
“That knock on effect took us literally almost a whole day to recover and bring back flights on schedule,” she said.
While ACSA didn’t have a spare parts problem, it recognised the need to implement speedier replacement, Mpofu said.
Measures being put in place include additional tanker capacity, and putting in place a bypass line to allow for continuity of supply should there be another failure.
Mpofu said December had been a good month for traffic, with up to 80% recovery from 2019, although further details would be provided in coming weeks. ACSA did not yet have a figure on the financial cost of the disruption, she added.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said the incident had sown confusion among travellers, including prompting uncertainty over whether they would face similar problems when returning, and been a “shock to the system.
“We once again apologise profusely to holidaymakers,” Mbalula said.
Mbalula said he had received a detailed briefing from Acsa on the situation at the airport and the company was prepared to welcome people back into the country and province.
“This past week, this airport was confronted with a challenge of a technical fault between the fuel storage facility and the main hydrant system which impacted the refuelling of aircraft.
“The technical issue was as a result of the main supply valve supplying fuel to the aprons, not opening, resulting in rotational delays to domestic and international departures, “Mbalula said.