Martha Irvine / Associated Press file
In this Sept. 24, 2014 file photo, smoke hangs over Reno-Tahoe International Airport as a plane takes off in Reno, Nev. A shortage of jet fuel, coupled with supply chain issues and an urgent demand from firefighting aircraft, continues to cause problems at airports around the West. In Nevada, state and federal lawmakers said they are investigating a possible shortage of jet fuel that could delay cargo delivery and passenger travel at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in the coming days.
Wednesday, July 28, 2021 | 2 a.m.
The airline industry took the unusual step on Tuesday of asking federal regulators to help increase jet fuel supplies at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, one of several smaller airports in the West that have been hit by shortages.
In a petition, Airlines for America, a trade association, and World Fuel Services, a company that supplies airlines with fuel, warned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the shortage of jet fuel had become so dire that it could force airlines to cancel passenger and cargo flights. The trade group predicted low fuel inventories through Labor Day.
The airline industry wants the commission to mandate that pipeline operators deliver more jet fuel to the Reno airport by temporarily prioritizing those supplies over other fuels like gasoline and diesel.
The shortages at smaller airports, mainly in the West, have been caused by several factors, among them the post-pandemic travel boom, a shortage of truck drivers and heightened demand for jet fuel by firefighting crews that are trying to put out several large wildfires with aircraft.
At the same time, airlines have increased flights to destinations like Reno above 2019 levels because of the popularity of domestic vacation spots like Lake Tahoe, the northern shore of which is less than an hour from the Reno airport by car.
Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, said another factor in the shortages is problems at refineries in Western states that process crude oil into jet fuel, gasoline and diesel. Many are not operating at full capacity because of unscheduled maintenance and because recent heat waves have made it difficult for those industrial plants to operate normally.
“It’s unusual, but it’s really limited to the Western geography,” Kloza said.
Airlines operating out of several airports in Nevada, on the Pacific Coast and in and around the Rocky Mountains have been forced to delay and cancel flights in recent days. The Oil Price Information Service has reported that the situation is expected to worsen, particularly if the wildfires persist into August. The information service reported that other airports that have experienced “hand-to-mouth supplies of jet fuel” include those serving Sacramento, California; Boise, Idaho; and Spokane, Washington.
“Transporters stress that every regional airport that is not supplied via pipeline is struggling to get enough fuel to handle robust summer demand,” Kloza said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
