Fuel Shortage at Austin International Airport

When there’s no fuel in Texas, there’s no fuel anywhere! Yet, here we are with news like this at the capital of one of America’s oil powerhouses. Yesterday, Monday March 28, the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport reported a fuel shortage in the facility. Airport officials stated that the shortage was linked to the high number of operations they were experiencing.

They are asking all operators to fuel up before heading to Austin, because there might not be enough Jet A for their return trip at this major international US Airport. The airport has been promoted as the next mega hub for the Lone Star State, yet although the number of lights are on the rise, their storage tanks have been forgotten for over two decades.

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It was in 1999, when the facility opened that their tanks were last even considered. Since then they have not been expanded or augmented. The airport has a holding capacity of two days of supply, this compared against the 5 to 7 days of supply traditionally stored by most major airports in the United States.

“We’re aware of fuel quantity issues at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and we are working to mitigate potential operational issues by tinkering fuel on some inbound flights.” Said Dan Landson, of Southwest Airlines who is the number one customer of the airport by passenger load. 

The airport is handling a heavier passenger load than usual and they are seeing loads of up to 25% more passengers than they normally handle. The load factors are so out of balance that security lines have been stretched outside and onto sidewalks. All of these issues come along with the inaugural flight of KLM and their brand new nonstop service from Amsterdam, which the airline stated will not be affected by the fuel shortage.