Fuel hydrant 'glitch' delays passengers at King Shaka International Airport

Passengers were left fuming after an apparent technical glitch with the fuel hydrant system at Durban's King Shaka International Airport caused flight delays on Sunday.

Several unhappy passengers took to social media to express their frustration, posting pictures of flight boards showing  delays and long queues of travellers waiting to board.

Many assumed that the airport had run out of fuel.

One passenger tweeted: “No fuel at King Shaka. So no planes can take off! 

The same passenger took to Twitter again with an update saying: “And we finally off. Still a big backlog of delayed flights but after 2 hours we on the way!”

Safair spokesperson Kirby Gordon told TimesLIVE: “It seems that there is fuel at King Shaka International, but there appears to be a technical issue with the fuel hydrant system. So they are tankering fuel to the aircraft.

“We had two aircraft slightly delayed this morning which unfortunately knocks on to their flying schedule for the rest of the day.”

Gordon said the airline managed to limit the effects.

The Airports Company SÄ did not respond to a request for comment.

TimesLIVE