South African airlines have activated contingency measures after an unplanned disruption at the Natref refinery affected jet-fuel supplies to O.R. Tambo International Airport, raising concerns about the resilience of aviation fuel networks serving one of the continent’s most important air-transport hubs.
The disruption comes shortly after a separate jet-fuel supply problem in neighbouring Namibia, where a consignment at Walvis Bay failed quality checks and temporarily affected international services from Windhoek. The two incidents are not directly connected, but their proximity has drawn attention to Southern Africa’s dependence on a relatively concentrated network of refineries, import terminals, pipelines, storage facilities and cross-border supply routes.
The immediate South African problem is centred on Natref, the crude-oil refinery at Sasolburg in the Free State. Sasol said on 26 August that an unplanned shutdown of a downstream unit had affected its ability to meet full supply commitments for certain petroleum products, including jet fuel supplied to customers at O.R. Tambo International Airport. The company said it would continue partially supplying its airport customers while mitigation measures were implemented and the refinery worked towards restoring normal operations.
For airlines, the immediate concern is less the complete absence of fuel than the ability to maintain reliable access to supplies while the refinery operates below normal availability.
FlySafair, South Africa’s largest domestic airline by passenger numbers, said it had temporarily increased supplies from alternative providers. The airline has also used fuel tankering, whereby aircraft carry additional fuel from another airport to reduce their dependence on supplies at their destination. The measure can provide operational flexibility, although it increases aircraft weight and consequently fuel consumption and operating costs.
South African Airways has also introduced contingency measures and said it was working with relevant stakeholders to protect its operations and maintain reliable services while monitoring developments at O.R. Tambo.
There has been no indication of widespread flight cancellations as a direct result of the disruption. The emphasis among carriers has instead been on securing alternative supplies and reducing their exposure to shortages at the Johannesburg hub.
The vulnerability is significant because O.R. Tambo is a major regional and international aviation gateway. During an earlier Natref disruption in January 2025, the airport was consuming approximately 3.6 million litres of jet fuel a day. Following a fire at the refinery, industry stakeholders secured additional supplies to protect airport operations, illustrating how a disruption at an inland refinery can quickly become an aviation and logistics issue.
The significance of Natref extends beyond its role as an individual refinery. South Africa’s refining landscape has contracted considerably over recent years. Natref and Astron Energy’s Cape Town refinery are currently among the country’s operational conventional crude-oil refineries, alongside Sasol’s Secunda coal-to-liquids operation.
Government data places Natref’s crude-refining capacity at approximately 108,000 barrels per day. The refinery is therefore an important component of the inland fuel system, particularly for Gauteng, the country’s principal economic centre.
The concentration of refining capacity does not mean that a single refinery failure will automatically produce a national fuel crisis. South Africa can draw on imports and alternative suppliers, while airlines can adjust procurement and operational practices. But these alternatives depend on available stocks, transport capacity, storage infrastructure and the economics of moving fuel between ports and inland markets.
That distinction is important in understanding Southern Africa’s current aviation-fuel pressures. The region’s aviation network does not operate through isolated national systems. Fuel can move through maritime ports, pipelines, road and rail networks and regional aviation hubs, meaning that disruptions in one part of the system can influence operating decisions elsewhere.
Namibia’s recent experience provides a different example.
A consignment of Jet A-1 fuel delivered at Walvis Bay failed quality inspections and was subsequently prevented from entering the country’s fuel-supply system. The resulting shortage affected international aviation operations from Hosea Kutako International Airport. Discover Airlines, part of the Lufthansa Group, rerouted flights between Windhoek and Europe through Luanda, Angola, to allow aircraft to refuel. Lufthansa Cargo also reported temporary disruption to some services.
Namibian authorities have stressed that the aviation-fuel problem was separate from the country’s arrangements for petrol and diesel supplies. The incident was primarily associated with the quality and availability of aviation fuel rather than a general collapse of Namibia’s petroleum supply system.
The contrast between the two cases is instructive. Namibia’s disruption was associated with a fuel consignment that failed quality requirements, while South Africa’s current problem stems from an unplanned refinery-unit shutdown. They therefore have different immediate causes, even though both demonstrate how aviation can be affected when a relatively small point of failure emerges within a wider fuel-supply chain.
For Southern African economies, the issue also goes beyond the inconvenience of delayed or rerouted flights. Reliable aviation fuel supplies underpin tourism, regional commerce, cargo movements, diplomatic travel and connections between African cities. Johannesburg, Windhoek and Luanda are not simply airports serving individual national markets; they form part of a wider network through which people and goods move across the continent and beyond.
The current situation consequently raises a broader question about regional energy resilience. South Africa has recognised the need to strengthen petroleum-stock arrangements and domestic refining capacity. Proposed strategic-stock measures are intended to provide greater protection against disruptions to the supply of crude oil and refined petroleum products.
Such measures, if implemented effectively, could strengthen resilience, but infrastructure alone will not eliminate the risks. Refinery maintenance, technical reliability, fuel-quality controls, storage capacity, port infrastructure, inland transportation and cross-border coordination all influence the ability of Southern African markets to respond to supply interruptions.
For airlines, the immediate priority is straightforward: keeping aircraft fuelled and flights operating safely while alternative supplies remain available.
For the region, however, the episode is another reminder that aviation resilience is inseparable from the wider question of energy security. Southern Africa’s increasingly interconnected economies require fuel systems capable not only of producing sufficient supplies under normal conditions, but also of absorbing disruptions without transferring the burden disproportionately to passengers, airlines, businesses and neighbouring markets.
For now, South African carriers appear to have contained the immediate operational risk. The longer-term test will be whether Natref can restore normal production quickly and whether the region can build sufficiently diversified fuel-supply networks to ensure that future disruptions remain manageable rather than becoming wider economic crises.
