Reno Reporter

Reno-Tahoe International Airport, which serves Nevada’s second largest metro area, isn't suffering from ongoing fuel shortages so much as a lack of pipelines and related infrastructure, a FOX Business opinion piece asserted.

The jet fuel shortage is causing delays at airports all around the country, to the point that the airport is finding it difficult to get essential goods into the state and making life difficult. It also could be a learning moment, Fox Business said in an op-ed under the headline "If Nevada had a pipeline, fuel shortage would be nil."

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak in a photo taken last summer | facebook.com/GovSisolak/

"One of the things that we could do in the future to avoid this type of situation is build more pipelines to move fuel to the smaller airports," Phil Flynn, an energy analyst, said it the article. "The problem with that, of course, is that there are many opponents to building new pipelines — especially anything to do with fossil fuels. So, if you are against pipelines, the next time you're sitting on the tarmac and your flight has been canceled due to lack of fuel, maybe you might want to reconsider your opposition to pipelines."

The airport's fuel shortage came into sharper relief in late July when Gov. Steve Sisolak's office issued a statement lamenting cargo and passenger flight cancellation, which is threatening the state's economy. The statement was jointly issued on Saturday, July 24, by the governor, U.S. House Rep. Mark Amodei, and U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.

"The governor and congressional delegation expect the airlines and fuel companies to make options available to them to help support the public," the joint statement said. "To be clear, further failure to secure adequate fuel supplies is unacceptable. 

"We are currently speaking to all responsible parties to understand how this situation occurred and prevent future shortages, but our immediate focus is on ensuring resources to combat western wildfires are not impacted and that there is as little disruption as possible for Nevadans and visitors who depend on reliable air service."

The fuel shortages are happening because there was a sharp decline in demand for jet fuel during much of the ongoing pandemic which also caused supply chains to almost dry up, according to an Associated Press news report, which cited information from jet fuel transport companies and others.

Now that the economy is starting to bounce back, travelers are returning to airports, including the Reno-Tahoe Airport, where they are finding cancelled flights and long delays.

Other causes of the fuel shortage include a lack of tanker truck drivers and an increase in demand for fuel for aircraft fighting fires, Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority spokeswoman Stacey Sunday told the AP.

"There’s just nobody available to drive the trucks of fuel in here," Sunday told the AP.

The airport's longest runway is also under construction, which limits how much fuel airlines can load onto its inbound flights as heavier loads require longer stopping distances, the AP reported.

The airport, citing the fuel shortage, has been advising passengers to check their airline flight status before arriving at the airport, according to a July 21 tweet.

Reno-Tahoe Airport and other airports wouldn't have these problem if there was better infrastructure, Flynn said.

"The larger issue is infrastructure, currently being debated with a massive spending bill in Washington," Flynn said. "U.S. airports are showing their age and desperately need to be upgraded all around the country. Major airport hubs have a better infrastructure that allows them to bring in jet fuel by pipeline and have also places to store it. Smaller airports in many cases have oil trucked in. This is not very efficient as many smaller airports are handling a lot more air traffic than they would have, say, 20 years ago."

After weeks of delay, the U.S. Senate voted the night of Wednesday, July 28, to start work on President Joe Biden's almost $1 trillion national infrastructure plan, the AP reported.