East Coast leads jet fuel pile-up during US air travel slump

Jet fuel is piling up at airports on the East Coast as the pandemic is keeping US traveler traffic at less than half usual levels. Twice this month, the weekly buildup of jet fuel kept mostly at airport storage tanks has surpassed 2 million barrels. Increases this high hadn’t happened before at any point during the pandemic. Most of the added jet fuel is on the East Coast, which includes the New York area’s three largest airports. The airline industry has been the weakest link in the recovery of fuel consumption that was decimated when the pandemic first hit last year, robbing refiners of one of their biggest customers. Things may get worse for aviation fuel as the Biden administration vows tough enforcement of safety travel measures, including self-quarantine for people arriving from other countries. In the week ending Jan. 15, 2.16m barrels of jet fuel were added to stockpiles for a total of 39.5m, the highest since October, Energy Information Administration data show. That came after 2.26m were added in the week ending Jan. 1. The supply glut is forming as the number of passengers through US airports has slumped to about 16.7m people this year through Thursday, compared with more than 40m over the same span in 2020 and 2019, TSA data show.<br/>