Manchester
airport runs out of fuel
Airline
passengers at Manchester are facing the threat of cancellations after
the airport ran out of jet fuel.
6
June, 2012
Supplies
were stopped in the early hours of this morning due to quality issues
with fuel from the Essar refinery at Stanlow, near Ellesmere Port.
Stocks
were finally exhausted at around 6pm leaving up to ten flights facing
cancellation, the airport said.
The
airport said that this is the first time that it has ever run out -
although it came close to doing so in 2008.
It
uses around three million litres of aviation fuel per day.
The
fuel supply comes from the refinery via a pipeline which is capable
of pumping 250,000 litres an hour.
Fuel
restarted pumping through the pipe shortly after 6pm this evening.
But
because of the time needed to fill the tanks and for the stock to
settle, it will not be possible to begin refuelling aircraft until
the early hours of the morning.
Manchester
airport handles around 600 flights a day and is used by both budget
and major scheduled airlines.
Short
haul airlines avoided disruption by refuelling elsewhere. But there
were some delays to long-haul flights which had to take on fuel en
route to their destination.
“Whilst
a stock of aviation fuel is stored on site, as a precaution, airlines
have been advised to carry additional fuel wherever possible,” an
airport spokesman said
“Although
this is a short term problem, until it is resolved, airlines might
not be able to refuel aircraft at Manchester Airport which is why
contingency plans have been put in place.
“Experts
from the fuel companies, the airport and airlines are working hard to
resolve the issue and minimise any impact.
“Whilst
we do not expect this to cause widespread disruption, it is possible
that some airlines may decide to cancel, divert or delay a small
number of flights from 18:00 tonight into tomorrow morning.
Passengers
due to fly out of Manchester have been advised to check with their
airlines before travelling to the airport.
A
spokesman for Ryanair, which has four aircraft based at the airport
said: "We do not anticipate any cancellations and delays. We
will load extra fuel at other airports to cope with any shortages."
Meanwhile
Monarch, which has seven flights due to leave Manchester tomorrow,
said it was reviewing the situation.
"Passengers
should keep up to date with what is happening on our website."
A
spokesman for easyJet also was optmistic that it could avoid
disruption to the "few flights" it has scheduled for this
evening.
Meanwhile
Virgin Atlantic said flights could take longer to take in a
refuelling stop en-route to long haul destinations.
A
spokesman for Etihad added: “Our flight tonight to Abu Dhabi was
fully fuelled this afternoon when it landed in Manchester and the
plane will leave at its scheduled time of 9.05pm this evening.”
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