Troublesome news has come to passengers traveling out of San Diego International Airport (SAN) this week. Several flights have recently experienced unique travel delays as the airplanes have needed to divert to nearby airports to refuel due to an ongoing fuel shortage at SAN. The flight disruptions come following a week of chaos at SAN when thousands of passengers were left stranded at the airport due to canceled flights.

Fuel crisis

SAN is experiencing what could be described as a small-scale fuel crisis. The airport has had insufficient fuel to properly fuel all departing aircraft for the past several days and will likely continue to have this issue for the rest of the week. On December 26th, a pipeline running fuel to the airport had a leak causing it to be shut down for safety purposes.

A representative for FOX News made the following statement last week concerning the pipeline issue,

“A pipeline sending gasoline to San Diego customers has been shut down for nearly a week, fueling concern of a potential shortage in the region. San Diego may already be dealing with the consequences of a recent pipeline leak in Cerritos at the Ironwood Nine Golf Course.”

Temporary solution

Due to the pipeline closure, the fuel must be trucked in. This creates an inherent fuel shortage as trucks cannot transport the fuel fast enough to sustain operations. Each truck can only carry enough fuel to support two flights from the West Coast to the East Coast, which means that hundreds of fuel trucks must arrive each day to keep up with demand. The airport does not have the resources to truck in that much fuel. However, it is making the most of what it has. Most flights departing SAN are being filled up with just enough fuel to make it to a nearby airport such as Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), or Phoenix (PHX).

Many flights are doing just that, flying to another airport to be refueled. These delays have added anywhere from 40 minutes to 3 hours to flights. Airlines have been including notices to passengers departing SAN informing them that their flight will take longer than planned because it will need to stop and refuel. An example of one of these from United Airlines stated,

“UA 2333: As a reminder, your flight will be making an additional stop for fuel due to an airport-wide fuel shortage at San Diego Int’l Airport. We’re anticipating a 12:13pm departure time from Gate 44. We know this wasn’t a part of your original travel plans and appreciate your understanding.”

The temporary solution implemented by the airport will have to do for at least the next few days as the pipeline is being repaired. The airport released an internal memo yesterday notifying operators that no pipeline fuel will be available from January 2nd until January 5th. The announcement was made so that airlines could plan accordingly. Hopefully, the situation will be quickly resolved. Regardless of when the problem is fixed, passengers traveling out of SAN this week should expect their flights to take longer than anticipated and plan accordingly.

What do you think of this fuel crisis? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Johnny Jet