A spokesman for Manchester Airport has said that the Airport will probably run out of fuel by 6pm this evening.
The fuel crisis has been caused by disruption at the local Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port, which has been blamed on quality concerns about the fuel. The Airport is hoping that the issue will be resolved by midnight.
The airport is supplied by a pipeline direct from the refinery, which is capable of delivering 250,000 litres of fuel per hour. The airport uses approximately 3 million litres per day, with this being the first occasion that they have run out of fuel.
The airport said in a statement, “Today the airline fuel supply companies operating at Manchester Airport are experiencing temporary problems with their supply of aviation fuel from Essar refinery.
Whilst a stock of aviation fuel is stored on site, as a precaution, airlines have been advised to carry additional fuel wherever possible.
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.
We would like to apologise for any disruption that this may cause and assure our customers that everything possible is being done to return operations to normal.”
