Brett Godfrey, who has been in the tourism industry for more than three decades and is co-owner of exclusive-use island Makepeace Island and the Tasmanian Walking Company, says he is “certain” we won’t run out of fuel.
Brett Godfrey’s comments come as the Strait of Hormuz remains largely impassable, stranding cargo vessels.
But Godfrey says less than 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes through the strait, and we have the ability to “ramp up the other 80 per cent”.
He says we have seen “constant shock syndrome” in the past, where airlines are faced with crises, and what will happen is they’ll introduce fuel surcharges.
“We won’t see more airline flights cancelled; we’ll see airlines charge more.
“International flights are at most risk because of the fuel used, but shorter haul is different, and we have stock of aviation fuel in this country.”
“Because war is scary what happens is airlines like Qatar aren’t going to be flying in 27 times a week, so domestic travel will benefit because we have more people flying overseas than coming here.
“As with COVID, more people stayed here, and that’ll give Qantas and Virgin an incentive to keep more flights in the air.”
Godfrey says the bottom line is with the government negotiating shipments, we will not run out of fuel.
His comments come as the Albanese Labor Government secured two shipments carrying 100 million litres of jet fuel, and another shipment of 50 million litres of diesel.
It says, “these three new fuel shipments, going to Brisbane, Perth and Darwin, are in addition to the eight shipments already announced in partnership with BP Australia, Ampol, and Viva Energy, which will reach Australia in May and June”.
Combined, the Government has secured more than 450 million litres of additional diesel and 100 million litres of additional jet fuel to “make sure Australians have the fuel they need”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says, “In the face of global instability, we are leaving no stone unturned as we work to keep Australia moving, working and flying”.
Emirates President Sir Tim Clark recently made some bold predictions about its future, saying this year it’ll be “the most profitable airline of the year”, despite the disruption where it was forced to operate at reduced capacity.
Speaking at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Berlin, Sir Tim Clark said, “People have short memories. If a solution is found and this goes away in the next two to four weeks, by the end of the [European] summer, nobody will remember what has happened.”
Emirates had been operating to about 80 per cent of its normal schedule, while flydubai had been running at roughly half capacity. Etihad Airways was also caught by the same restrictions, with daily flight numbers capped as carriers were funnelled into a narrower set of corridors.
The UAE has, however, now removed all temporary airspace and airport restrictions imposed during the Iran conflict, clearing the way for Emirates, flydubai and Etihad to return to full schedules.
