As an unexpected side effect of the rapid recovery of domestic flying after a year of pandemic reductions, some U.S. airlines are now facing fuel shortages, especially at small to mid-size cities.
American Airlines in particular has said that the situation may cause it to add refueling stops on some routes, and on others to implement ‘tankering,’ a practice in which a plane takes on more fuel than it needs for its flight in order to reduce what it needs to add for the return flight. Delta has also indicated it’s feeling the pinch, and Southwest has said it is prepared if necessary.
The basic issue is that during the height of the pandemic, the pipelines that carry nearly all petroleum-based fuels around the country gave over more of their capacity to gasoline and heating oils, demand for both of which was up. That means that more capacity must now be assigned to jet fuel to build up supplies where needed. American indicated it believes that may take until late August.
