Airports Company SA moves to bypass Western sanctions so it can refuel Russian planes

21 Feb 2023

The move by Airports Company South Africa follows two incidents last year where Western oil companies refused to refuel Russian aircraft in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) is changing operations at its airports to ensure that Russian aircraft – which are sanctioned by Western governments – can still refuel in this country.

This is in response to two incidents last year where Russian aircraft which landed at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and Cape Town International Airport could not refuel because of Western sanctions.

Acsa CEO Mpumi Mpofu told Parliament’s Transport Portfolio Committee on Tuesday that, historically, Acsa did not supply fuel to aircraft. Refuelling and providing other supplies was contracted out to oil companies and refuelling and “through-putting” companies. They leased fuel hydrants and tanks from Acsa.

During the two incidents when Russian aircraft landed last year, “the fuel consortium and through-putters could not refuel the aircraft, citing sanctions imposed by their countries of origin and their own internal policies”, she said.

Independent operating company

So now Acsa was planning to separate the oil companies from the refuellers and “through-putters” by creating its own independent refuelling and through-putting company. The oil companies would only provide the fuel, and the new independent operating company would do the refuelling and decide which aircraft could be refuelled.

“Acsa will separate the two components of fuel supply process at the airport, operation (fuel tanks, fuel hydrant, ownership of movable into-plane equipment), and thru-putting (supply of jet fuel),” Mpofu’s Powerpoint presentation to the committee said.

“Acsa will appoint an operator and the oil companies will only be able to supply the jet fuel.

“The operator will invest in the movable into-plane equipment and operate the tanks and fuel hydrant on a fee basis to the oil companies in fulfilment of their contracts with airlines.

“Both the operator and through-putter arrangements will allow Acsa an opportunity to introduce meaningful transformation of the space.

“Refusal by Fuel Consortium and/or Through-Putters to refuel aircraft from sanction countries will be averted.”

It would give Acsa better control of the assets it owned and enable it to better execute its legal mandate to supply fuel across its network, he said in the presentation.

Interim arrangement

Mpofu said an interim arrangement was being negotiated with the fuel supply operators to allow Acsa to put out tenders for the new operator.

With the expiry of the contract at the end of September 2022, an interim arrangement has been negotiated with the fuel supply operators to allow the conclusion of Acsa supply chain processes to go out on tender.

Giving the refuel and through-putting contract to a new independent operator would “deal with a scenario where a sanctioned friend of the South African government needs servicing and refuelling”, Mpofu’s Powerpoint presentation said.

Oddly, that section of the Powerpoint presentation is titled, “Refusal of oil companies to fuel Russia and Ukrainian aircraft”. There is no mention in the presentation of any incident where oil companies refused to refuel a Ukrainian aircraft.

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ANC MPs were incensed by the refusal of international oil companies to refuel the Russian aircraft last year and had been pushing hard for Acsa to change the arrangements at airports to allow Russian aircraft to be refuelled.

Acsa’s announcement coincides with a controversial joint maritime exercise involving the South African, Russian and Chinese navies off the KwaZulu-Natal coast, which has prompted considerable criticism from Western governments that South Africa has abandoned its proclaimed “non-aligned” stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The naval drill, named Exercise Mosi II, will be under way on Friday, which marks the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Western diplomats and others have said this timing is unfortunate, suggesting not only that South Africa is helping to develop Russia’s naval warfare skills through the joint exercise, but is also being perceived as joining Russia in celebrating its invasion of Ukraine. DM

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Independent operating company

Interim arrangement