Airports shiver as gas supply is cut

Russia’s decision to halt deliveries of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine is causing unexpected problems for airports in Eastern Europe. James Gordon finds out which facilities are worst affected.

If you were a passenger waiting for a flight at Budapest International Airport on Wednesday morning, you could have been forgiven for not realizing there was a problem. There were no delays to flights and the terminals, the check-in areas and the security points were all functioning as normal.

But, in the background, a crisis was being averted. The airport operator, Hochtief, learned at 0600 hours that day that gas supplies to Ferihegy International Airport were about to be cut. Hungary’s state gas operator, Mol Nyrt, says that it took action to maintain dwindling stocks by limiting supplies to industrial users.

Oil as an alternative

“Luckily,” says Budapest Airport spokesman, Domokos Szollar, “Budapest International Airport has around 80,000 litres of oil, but this won’t last forever. We are hoping that the gas supply is restored soon.”

Hungary, which imports 60% of natural gas supplies from Russia, and many other EU countries, have become victims of a dispute between Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom and Ukrainian gas company, Naftogaz.

The dispute began on New Year’s Day when Gazprom decided to cut gas exports to Ukraine in the latest escalation of a long and bitter row about unpaid bills. However, by halting its neighbour’s supply of gas, Gazprom also stopped a quarter of the EU’s supplies, which are pumped through Ukraine. The cut-off has led to immediate gas shortages from Calais in France to Constanta on Romania’s Black Sea coast.

State of emergency

Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, yesterday declared a state of emergency on gas supplies. It too relies on Russia for 60% of its gas supply. M.R Stefanik, Slovakia’s largest airport relies on natural gas to power the terminal and only has a limited supply according to airport spokeswoman, Dana Madunicka.

“We haven’t been affected by the gas supply freeze yet,” she says. “We do not underestimate the current situation and we are looking for hard and fast solutions on how we can decrease our gas consumption to the absolute minimum.”

Romania, which also shares a border with Ukraine, says it will be largely unaffected by the crisis. A Romanian government official says that the country has the capacity to manage for four to six months without Russian supplies.

Chrisitian Teodorescu, the general manager of Mikhail Kogalniceanu airport in Constanta, says, “In our airport, we use gas only for heating purposes. If the gas runs out, we can switch to liquid fuel in only two hours. I can confirm that airport traffic will remain unaffected by the Russian energy crisis.”

Austria, too has been largely unaffected by the crisis, even though it signed a deal with Gazprom last year to join its southern pipeline. Peter Kleemann, spokesman for Vienna International, the country’s largest airport, says, “Vienna International airport is not affected by limited gas supplies. We are using geothermal heating, not gas.”

Balkans exposed

Carina O’Reilly, a European security analyst at Jane’s Country Risk, predicts that the Balkans is the region most likely to be affected by the gas cutoff.

“Serbia is highly dependent on natural gas from Russia,” she says. “It only has a limited supply of natural gas. Currently the country only has reserves to last it 10 days. Bosnia-Hercegovina is totally reliant on Serbia for its supply of gas. If the gas supplies aren’t restored it could be a cold winter in Belgrade and Sarajevo.”

No one from Sarajevo International Airport was prepared to comment on the gas crisis, but one local contact told us, “It’s -13°C outside. We are really concerned about our kids, and of course the elderly.”

The worry for airport officials is if the dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz drags on. Phil Seymour, chief executive of the International Bureau of Aviation, says, “Clearly many airports in the EU will be affected by the gas shortage. Heating is vital to the operation of any airport terminal. Airports in Central and Eastern Europe who depend on Russian natural gas could find that they have no choice but to close down if the gas supply isn’t restored. This would have a very damaging affect on air travel over the next few months.”

In search of an alternative

Many airport operators are already trying to identify alternative sources of heat and power to enable them to guarantee continuation of services if gas supplies are interrupted in future. David Lindley, an aviation safety risk expert for ESR Technology says, “It is very difficult to know what measures countries like Serbia and Bosnia can take to prevent the situation from happening again. They are in a vicious circle. In my view it will mean that many airport terminals will be shut down intermittently over the coming months if the gas supplies are stopped.

“Government’s will have to ration gas supplies and ultimately the aviation industry will lose out,” he adds. “Gas will be needed to heat homes, office blocks and government buildings instead. And if there is no heat in the airport terminal, I believe that the airport trade unions will put pressure on the airport to close down until the situation is resolved. This energy crisis could be very harmful for airports in Eastern, Southern and Central Europe.”

Even if Russia decides to restore gas supplies to Eastern Europe, the gas crisis raises many uncomfortable questions. But for airport operators in the region – there is one that stands out – namely, what measures can airports take to avert a similar crisis should Russia decide to stop gas supplies once more?
 

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