Persistently low water levels in the Rhine River are hampering the supply of jet fuel to Frankfurt Airport. Due to reduced shipping traffic on the river, the amount of fuel is decreased. The situation is exacerbated by routine maintenance on a pipeline which provides the airport with jet fuel.
Airlines serving Frankfurt are currently facing a shortage of kerosene supply. That said, the airport operator assures media that air traffic is not negatively affected as a result, and that flight cancellations are not to be expected. Despite these calming words from the operator, airlines are taking precautionary measures to be on the safe side. For example, the Lufthansa Group has instructed its crews to fuel the aircraft with additional kerosene at remote airports, on routes to or taking off from Frankfurt.
New refueling practices
Lufthansa Cargo’s Communications Officer, Jan Paulin confirmed this practice for the carrier’s B777F long-haul fleet. He also emphasized that the fuel shortage had not caused any flight cancellations for his company so far. “We are offsetting the reduced fuel supply in Frankfurt for our aircraft by taking on additional kerosene volumes at other airports.” Asked for example airports where this is the case, he did not name any specific ones. In day-to-day operations, this means that the carrier’s cargo planes serving Frankfurt routes, already have a surplus amount of fuel on board upon arrival, thereby reducing the amount needed in Frankfurt to ensure they can safely reach their next destination.
There is no end in sight to the shortage
Regarding its passenger fleet, Lufthansa points out that, particularly in the case of the Airbus A320 single-aisle aircraft, flight planners must ensure that the additional weight resulting from external refueling does not adversely affect passenger and cargo transport at the carrier’s home base in Frankfurt.
Frankfurt Airport has not provided any information on how long the fuel shortage is expected to last.
Meanwhile, freight forwarders are also addressing this issue. The topic will be discussed on Tuesday, 20OCT26, by the Executive Board of the Hesse/Rhineland-Palatinate Freight Forwarders Association, its Managing Director, Thorsten Hölser, confirmed to CargoForwarder Global.
Decarbonization is progressing
On a different topic, the airport reports that it has received additional funding of approximately EUR 8.7 million from the Berlin government. This money is intended to further advance the modernization of the power supply for parked aircraft at Frankfurt Airport. The goal is to either connect all 252 parking positions at Frankfurt Airport to the ground power grid or enable the supply of electricity to aircraft via mobile battery-powered ground power units (GPUs), by 2030. The modernization of the ground power supply is a key component of the package of measures aimed at decarbonization. It comprises 2,000 single steps, which are outlined in a master plan.
