Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) is encountering difficulties in supplying aviation turbine fuel (ATF) as the demand of ATF at present has increased by 25 percent all across the country.
Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the only international airport of the country is in need of increasing Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). Chief of ATF Depot Mr. Manoj Thakur said, “The demand of ATF had increased from 2 lakh liters per day to 7 lakh liters per day at the peak tourist and festive season but now it has declined to 5.5 lakhs liters per day. At the previous year, the demand at the peak season was only 4.5 lakhs liters per day.”
The total capacity of ATF depot is 7640 kiloliters and the stock capacity is around 700 kiloliters. At present, daily consumption of ATF at TIA exceeds 600 kiloliters for which NOC is having harsh time satisfying all the airline operators. The domestic airlines consume between 70-80 kiloliters daily whereas one aircraft of international airline operators refuel more than 50 kiloliters daily.
The increase in the number of fleet by domestic air operators and the lack of sufficient refuelers in recent times is sure to bring difficulties in coming days, added Mr. Thakur.
Right now, there are only 8 refuelers at TIA out of which two are utilized for transfer purposes and remaining 6 for the usual refueling purposes. The refuelers at TIA feature capacity of 12000, 16000 and 27000 liters. These amounts of refuelers are insufficient for the airport like TIA to provide on-time refueling service to all the airline operators.
Previously, NOC had tried to procure 14 refueling tankers but the tender was terminated due to technical issues. Now, the corporation will require a minimum of 9 months for acquiring additional tankers.
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has obtained land at Chitwan to set up a new ATF storage facility to meet the increasing demand of ATF at TIA.
