Fuel shortage disrupts general aviation in Southern Ontario

By Joe Letourneau | June 13, 2023

A fuel shortage has caught many general aviation operators in Southern Ontario by surprise. Many airports are reporting no or limited fuel available as the impacts of forest fires and an equipment breakdown ripple through the aviation community.

Several airports have NOTAMs posted saying 100LL (low lead) avgas is unavailable, and others have a limited supply. A component failure at a Greater Toronto Area (GTA) fuel transfer station is being cited as the main cause of the shortage, while fuel is also being diverted and reserved for firefighting in Northern Ontario and Quebec.

The avgas infrastructure in Canada is limited with only one refinery, Imperial Oil, producing 100LL in Strathcona, Alberta. The fuel is transported by rail tank car, then either put into bulk storage or transferred directly to tanker trucks for final distribution to the end users.

The breakdown in this case is at the truck loading transfer station where a key rail car unloading component has failed. Airports in Southern Ontario with no onsite storage are impacted most — relying solely on truck-to-aircraft transfer. One such aerodrome is Brantford (CYFD). The underground storage at the airport was phased out due to environmental and cost concerns, and the airport relies on direct truck-to-aircraft transfer.

Impacts of the shortage are already apparent with the cancellation of the North American Trainer Association’s (NATA’s) Brantford Formation Clinic, which was scheduled to begin June 14 at CYFD. Over a dozen radial engined warbirds were signed up to attend the clinic, all reliant on 100LL avgas.

Alf Beam, Brantford Formation Clinic lead, told Skies in an email that Brantford Airport “is rationing avgas and they have no guarantee of a fuel delivery in time to support the clinic. We are looking into rescheduling the clinic in the summer/fall, or next year, and will send out an announcement later.”

Airports with underground or above ground storage may have been better equipped to deal with the shortage, as tank reserve capacities are larger. Still, these airports are dependent on a reliable supply. Other suppliers such as Shell are locally available — although not domestically sourced. There is diversity in the supply chain, albeit limited.

With the eventual phase out of lead-based fuel — due to its pollutive qualities — the supply chain may become more precarious. Both airport and aircraft operators will have to find new sources of fuel or phase out the use of traditional reciprocating engines completely.

The advent of diesel technology, the approved use of automobile gas (mogas) in certain airplanes, and the electrification of aircraft make the future of avgas even more complex.

The production of 100LL is a niche market at best for the global petroleum industry, and as with scarcity, the end user costs are surely to rise. Although minuscule on the global scale (<0.5 percent of automobile gas production), it is still a multi-billion-dollar market — leaving potential for new alternate fuels to be developed, tested, and approved for use.

The fuel transfer facility in the GTA is expected to be operational again this week, with deliveries reaching airports by week’s end.

In an email to Skies on June 15, Shawn Broughton, general manager at Brantford Flight Centre, said the airport has received a delivery of fuel and has now lifted its NOTAM. Unfortunately, the fuel did not arrive in time to salvage the Brantford Formation Clinic.