Singapore Airlines, Qantas Airways and South African Airways are each making minor adjustments to flight operations from London Heathrow as a result of the fuel rationing at the hub, although UK operators British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are unaffected.

It follows the restrictions on fuel supply at the airport imposed after a fire at a main oil terminal north of London. Fuel availability is down by around one-third.

Until further notice, Singapore Airlines will operate one of its three daily London Heathrow-Singapore services via Frankfurt where it will refuel. The carrier says that this will result in a 105-minute delay to the flight’s arrival in Singapore.

Its other two daily services on the route will continue operating non-stop, while flights from Singapore to London Heathrow will be unaffected.

South African Airways will divert one of its two daily Johannesburg services via Milan, and says that its daily London-Cape Town service might be diverted on certain days.

“We expect the current situation to continue until the peak season calms down in mid-January,” says the airline. Ironically the carrier’s operations have recently been disrupted by a separate fuel shortage at Cape Town caused by work to upgrade a refinery.

Qantas is to divert a single flight, the QF2 service operating London Heathrow-Bangkok-Sydney, via London Stansted today. But a Qantas spokeswoman says that this single flight is the only one to be affected, and that it will only be disrupted today.

Virgin Atlantic says that it is in discussion with fuel suppliers but does not expect to make any operational changes to its schedule. A spokeswoman for the airline says: “The home carriers and long-haul operators are taking priority at Heathrow, and tend to be the least affected.”

British Airways similarly is not experiencing any impact on services and is not implementing any significant changes, although a spokesman for the airline says that its inbound aircraft are being loaded with additional fuel.

Source: Flight International

Topics