Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has revealed that it has received a new shipment of jet fuel.
The unavailability of jet fuel from Colombo, Sri Lanka, has resulted in more fuel usage in the Maldives, resulting in MACL’s decision to control jet fuel sales. The company stated that the new shipment will allow it to continue providing jet fuel, and that the new shipment will become available much sooner as re-testing will be conducted at the new fuel testing laboratory established by State Trading Organisation (STO), instead of sending samples to the UAE.
The fuel testing laboratory is operated by Geo-Chem Middle East, a prominent company in product testing. The laboratory facilitates immediate testing of imported fuel, and saves time spent on testing fuel samples from abroad, which makes it beneficial in re-testing jet fuel shipments brought from abroad.
MACL has stated that the unavailability of jet fuel from Colombo, Sri Lanka, has resulted in more fuel usage and a high amount of flight traffic at Velana International Airport (VIA). The company stated it was a challenge but that it is assisting the airlines in a controlled manner and that all flights landing at VIA are being provided with fuel in controlled quantities. However, it stated that the implementation of controls on jet fuel sales will not affect the management of flight operations.
MACL has also been working to develop and expand VIA. Some of the components of the USD1 billion expansion project of VIA include installing a new fuel hydrant system, and developing a new fuel farm. The new fuel farm area is three times larger than the current fuel farm and has the capacity to store 45 million litres of jet fuel, one million litres of diesel, and one million litres of petrol. The new fuel farm is expected to decrease the time taken to refuel airlines.