Travellers passing through Melbourne Airport tomorrow – Wednesay 8 March – could face disruptions, as workers from of the one the major refuelling companies plan to go on protected industrial action for 24h. That 24h strike period is currently set commence from 4am Melbourne time (GMT+11) tomorrow, 8th March.
As reported by media in Australia, refuellers from The Rivet Group are planning to strike after longstanding negotiations for pay rises and better conditions seem to have gone nowhere. The Rivet Group is one of the biggest refuelling firms at Melbourne, serving major airlines such as Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways. Qantas obviously has sizeable operations in Melbourne, so they will likely be hardest hit.
I don’t want to talk about the ins-and-outs of the pay dispute or industrial action. It’s an unfortunate fact of such actions that the hardest impact could be felt by the innocent travelling public.
What could airlines do?
There’s still a few measures airlines could take to mitigate the issue. The most obvious would be seek a temporary alternative refuelling company. That’s not always possible, as other companies may not have the staffing to support additional customers. For example, I doubt any refuelling company would be able to handle Qantas’ entire operation at Melbourne.
Failing that, I’d expect airlines to start fuel tankering. That is, carry excess fuel on flights into Melbourne, such that its aircraft will not need to refuel in Melbourne. For Qantas domestic, this should be possible to a large extent, assuming the origin airports have sufficient supplies (and they should).
For overseas operators such as Singapore Airlines, this will be a lot more difficult, and costly. There’s only so much fuel an aircraft can physically carry, and coming from origin points further afield, it’s simply not possible to carry sufficient fuel for a return trip. Qantas’ international flights will likely face similar constraints as well.
In such cases, these airlines will almost certainly have to make fuel stops out of Melbourne, for example at Sydney or Brisbane. They’ll tanker sufficient fuel to get to these diversion points, then pick up whatever additional fuel is needed to get home. Of course, that leads to other operational complications, such as crew duty hours. Ideally, such diversions will be a simple ‘gas and go, so there shouldn’t be an issue of crew duty time limitations. But if delays arise then crew duty limits could come into play. Diversions will impact travel times, so the risk of missed connections for network carriers like Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airways comes into play as well.
Apart from the operational issues, there’s the additional cost to airlines as well. Tankering fuel is very expensive, as the aircraft will be much heavier departing for Melbourne. Heavier aircraft = higher fuel burn. Fuel stops will cost too, there’s landing fees, extra crew hours etc.
Overall, it’s not a good situation for airlines nor its passengers to be in. Airlines face operational challenges and extra cost, while passengers face disruptions to their travel plans.
Conclusion
Refuellers from a major refuelling company at Melbourne Airport are planning to take industrial action for 24hrs starting from 4am tomorrow (8 March). The Rivet Group serves several major airlines including Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways, amongst others. Airlines have some options for mitigating the lack of refuelling at Melbourne, but some disruption will almost certainly occur.