If you’re scheduled to fly from New Zealand in the coming days, you may be faced with an extra stop…
In this post:
New Zealand has a jet fuel shortage
New Zealand relies entirely on imported jet fuel, and earlier this week the country received a contaminated batch. Specifically, the country received a roughly 25 million liter shipment of jet fuel, which had to be returned overseas for refining, as the country’s only oil refinery closed this April.
New Zealand will get its next shipment of jet fuel on December 12, but it’s expected that rationing will continue to be in place until at least December 18.
As you’d expect, the timing here isn’t exactly great, as New Zealand enters its peak travel season, after having reopened borders earlier this year. Demand for travel to and from New Zealand is high, as it’s about to be summer, and the holidays are right around the corner.
Z Energy, the company that is responsible for supplying the jet fuel to New Zealand, has apologized to airlines and customers for the situation.
How airlines are dealing with the jet fuel shortage
So, how are airlines handling this jet fuel shortage? Flights to New Zealand should operate as scheduled, as this just impacts flights that require fuel from New Zealand. So far the jet fuel rationing seems to mostly be impacting long haul flights.
For example, United Airlines’ Auckland to San Francisco flight is stopping in Honolulu to refuel.
Meanwhile American Airlines’ Auckland to Dallas is stopping in either Honolulu or Los Angeles to refuel.
While I don’t know the background on this, on Monday American Airlines will be operating a roundtrip flight from Auckland to Christchurch. I would assume that there’s more fuel available in Christchurch than Auckland, because American has delayed its Auckland to Dallas flight on Monday, but it appears that it will operate nonstop.
Air New Zealand long haul flights largely seem unaffected, with most services to the United States operating as scheduled. Of course that could change, as it’s expected that the jet fuel shortage will continue to be an issue for roughly another week.
Bottom line
New Zealand is currently dealing with a jet fuel shortage, due to a large, contaminated shipment that recently arrived in the country. This is causing some airlines to make fuel stops when departing from New Zealand. While the next jet fuel shipment should arrive on Monday,there could be operational issues for roughly another week.
Are any OMAAT readers impacted by New Zealand’s jet fuel shortage?
(Tip of the hat to Brian)
To set the record straight as well as to bring us back to the topic: I've just returned from AKL on AA34 to DFW. The problem is only at AKL--they are the only airport that received a load of off-spec jet fuel (which will be blended into future loads). AA flies their 787 empty to CHC to refuel--I assume taking just enough fuel to supplement their 75% quota at AKL. Lately their AKL-DFW flights have...
To set the record straight as well as to bring us back to the topic: I've just returned from AKL on AA34 to DFW. The problem is only at AKL--they are the only airport that received a load of off-spec jet fuel (which will be blended into future loads). AA flies their 787 empty to CHC to refuel--I assume taking just enough fuel to supplement their 75% quota at AKL. Lately their AKL-DFW flights have been helped by strong tailwinds (100mph +/-). Both New Zealand and JetStar are refueling at other NZ airports or Australia. All in all, no great impact.
There is at least one provately owned P51 Mustang (I have flown in it as a passenger) they counld send up if there is an airliner incident
If it's flown by Tom Cruise then there is nothing to worry about.
Just hit the brakes and they'll fly right by.
They would be making fuel stops on the way out of NZ so that they can use less fuel (carrying more fuel increases fuel burn after a point), and if they're doing it on the way in, it would be so that they can 'tanker' as much fuel as possible (bring more fuel than necessary and use it for the next flight, reducing the need to refuel at the destination).
Source: Am an aircraft dispatcher and make flight plans.
We having a crew change in HNL also.
Yes I an on UA 916 today (Dec 11) and we going to be making a technical stop in HNL.
Yes, not just North America flights but Asia flights are impacted too. CX diverted their AKL-HKG flight to refuel at BNE.
Enough of the bashing of capitalism. The very fact that you can rant about it on this forum is because of capitalism.
Correcting lunatics' baseless assumptions with statements of fact is not "bashing".
(And for what it's worth, I'm far from anti-capitalist. But completely unfettered, absolute capitalism—profit motive always and absolutely above all else—that's continually problematic.)
Oil problem?
Big brother has you back.
We embargo them, have a proxy war with them, and when things still doesn't go our way, we put a $60 cap on it (against the judgement of $30 from Kermit the frog).
Problem solved.
Interesting to see that United manages to keep the refueling stop at half an hour, while American needs roughly 90 minutes in both examples.
I wonder whether American requires passengers to deboard while refueling, while United just goes for a quick splash 'n' dash keeping everyone onboard.
@Daniel…No, AA doesn’t require deplaning coming from AKL while they refuel. They would all have to clear Customs if they deplaned.
Deplane is not an English word.
It is, actually: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deplane
While New Zealand is unique in that half its energy production is from renewable sources, it still imports tons of fossil fuels (both refined and crude) to supply the other half. Closing the only oil refinery in the country to satisfy some woke virtue signaling is totally idiotic. I'm glad they are having problems - particularly since this is one of the countries that were praised for so long for their nonsense zero covid policies....
While New Zealand is unique in that half its energy production is from renewable sources, it still imports tons of fossil fuels (both refined and crude) to supply the other half. Closing the only oil refinery in the country to satisfy some woke virtue signaling is totally idiotic. I'm glad they are having problems - particularly since this is one of the countries that were praised for so long for their nonsense zero covid policies. You guys elected these people and elections have consequences. I'd much rather have big angry evil Trump in charge than weak Kiwi Jacinda. Maybe the Aussies can help you out.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. The refinery was closed by the consortium of global energy companies that privately own it. It was closed because of profit-driven, unfettered capitalism.
@ Vinay
NZ is well placed to supply about 41% of its energy needs from (mainly) hydro and geothermal thanks to its geological setting. To note that the intrinsic efficiency of geothermal energy generation is limited.
The closure of the Marsden Point refinery was a matter for its corporate owners (Channel Infrastructure, partly owned by BP, Mobil and Z Energy) backed by its shareholders. It is reported that the company did not seek government assistance...
@ Vinay
NZ is well placed to supply about 41% of its energy needs from (mainly) hydro and geothermal thanks to its geological setting. To note that the intrinsic efficiency of geothermal energy generation is limited.
The closure of the Marsden Point refinery was a matter for its corporate owners (Channel Infrastructure, partly owned by BP, Mobil and Z Energy) backed by its shareholders. It is reported that the company did not seek government assistance to maintain its operation. Oh yeah, the refinery was transferred into corporate ownership when the petroleum was deregulated (by a "Labour" i.e. Democrat government).
So, basically, you are spouting absolutely crapola, especially when it comes to delusions about woke virtue signalling.
Incidentally, Australia has a 24-day reserve of jet fuel, to be increased to 27 days by mandate of the current federal government.
Go ahead, live in ignorance, just another Dumb Right Wing American attached to misplaced memes and misconceptions and squawking nonsense just like the daft Donald Dabbling Duckling.
PS. A dabbling duck is one that feeds by plunging its head underwater and sticking its smelly rear up into the air....;)
"as the country’s only oil refinery closed this April." Why is it closed? Is it more of their eco-zealot bullshit? I see they started taxing farmers for cow methane.
Your assenine assumptions are incorrect. It was closed for the profit of its owners—a consortium of global energy companies.
@ David
Refer to post above. Closure of the refinery was a corporate decision.
And no, NZ is not taxing farmers for cow methane. It is a proposal under discussion with a putative start date of 2025.
You could spend a couple of minutes on your favourite search engine to fact check before letting the dribble run from your gibbering mouth.
I'm impressed UA is only scheduling a half hour stop in HNL. They should do this regularly. Saving tons of fuel (and emission) by having two medium haul flights instead of one long haul at the expense of half an hour is a good tradeoff.
How are two medium haul flights which cover the same distance as one long haul flight “saving tons of fuel”?
Given that it adds one more takeoff & landing, wouldn’t it be more total fuel used?
Less weight for the first half of the flight meaning less fuel burn. The additional weight of carrying fuel for a long haul weight causes a significant increase in the amount of fuel used. For a 777 the point at which it becomes more fuel efficient to have a stop is 3000 miles for example (this takes into account the increased fuel usage for take off).
The AKL-CHC round trip is particularly odd given that the aircraft would be overweight to land back in AKL if it were carrying sufficient fuel for the trans-Pacific flight.
The plane probably wouldn't be carrying passengers or cargo, so maybe that's sufficient to get it below the maximum landing weight.
I dont think so as there would be no pax or cargo
I looked at the numbers for the company. The plan is to uplift enough fuel to land at max landing weight in AKL and then uplift the remaining fuel in AKL while boarding pax. AKL is not out of fuel just short supply. I don't want to speak to specific numbers but we can land back in AKL with more than half of what is needed to operate to DFW non-stop
New Zealand is a fool country, like France. New Zealand's air force has the same number of fighter jets as Monaco or Vatican City, zero. If there is an airliner incident near New Zealand, they have no capacity to intercept the plane. Maybe from the ground, they can toss some kiwifruit in the air. They also chased away the US Navy, making impossible demands that US Navy ships haven't visited NZ in years.
You’re also a t—t
err. we told the US 30yrs ago to declare if they were carrying nuclear weapons on their ships. We kiwis have this odd dislike of dropping nuclear bombs on countries. This is pretty much in keeping with using our navy to protest against french tests in the pacific (our backyard) 40 yrs ago.
edit . 40yrs and 50yrs ago +or- . not 30 and 40. must be getting old.
It's okay. New Zealand is essentially piggybacking its defense on the backs of Australia and the United States. A December 9 article on DefenseNews.com stated "Three of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s nine ships are now docked at the Devonport naval base indefinitely, due to insufficient personnel." I read NZ has contributed some help to Ukraine, so that's something. And New Zealand will always have the haka to contribute to defense of the free world....
It's okay. New Zealand is essentially piggybacking its defense on the backs of Australia and the United States. A December 9 article on DefenseNews.com stated "Three of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s nine ships are now docked at the Devonport naval base indefinitely, due to insufficient personnel." I read NZ has contributed some help to Ukraine, so that's something. And New Zealand will always have the haka to contribute to defense of the free world. =)
Queenstown (and surrounding area) will always have my vote for the most beautiful place on earth. Let's hope we don't see clouds from Mordor cover middle earth with darkness.
Extremely weird tantrum, Derek
You sound like an ignorant, dumb American.
We is not ignorant, we the best.
MAGA !! USA. USA. USA.
@Derek
I don't think you should underestimate the might of the Holy See.
Why throw some fruit in the air when the almighty superior creator of the fruit is on your side. Holding your afterlife residency as a hostage so that you won't oppose abortion or accept other genders.
But if you still need to show military power, Televangelist can probably fund a military strong enough to takeover any country you want. (or was...
@Derek
I don't think you should underestimate the might of the Holy See.
Why throw some fruit in the air when the almighty superior creator of the fruit is on your side. Holding your afterlife residency as a hostage so that you won't oppose abortion or accept other genders.
But if you still need to show military power, Televangelist can probably fund a military strong enough to takeover any country you want. (or was it IRS)
The only fools are people who underestimate his kingdom.
@Eskimoo
Did you acquire your English language 'proficiency' from a drunken hermit in the forests of The Gambia?