The Soviet state airline Aeroflot has canceled scores of flights and stranded tens of thousands of passengers because Moscow has only a 10-day supply of aviation fuel left, Soviet television said.
In many cities no fuel of any kind was available and air passengers were unable to travel to or from airports, the broadcast, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp., said Tuesday night."Planes, their tanks half-full, hop from one airport to the next like crickets, making many extra stops. In the words of one air traffic controller, the planes are arriving at their destinations by sheer willpower," the report said.
It said the country's air force was "close to its final breath" because it lacked fuel for jets.
Cities such as Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Simferopol in Ukraine had no fuel, and the situation was critical across Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the north Caucasus.
"Even in Moscow there is only sufficient aviation fuel for 10 days," the television said.
It blamed the shortage on reduced production by workers.
"There is no kerosene in Moscow because the oil workers have reduced production, while in Tyumen they are reducing production because they can't get workers to the oilfields by plane - a vicious circle," it said.
In Frankfurt, an Aeroflot spokeswoman said the tight aviation fuel supplies will not hamper international flights by the airline.
"There will be no cancellations . . . passengers do not have to worry that they will be left sitting on their suitcases," the spokeswoman said.