Airport fuel supply returns to normal

Flight operations at Manchester Airport returned to normal on Thursday after the fuel supply briefly ran out on Wednesday due to an interruption to supply from the Essar refinery in Stanlow.

A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: "The initial interruption to the fuel supply was caused by production problems and occurred early yesterday morning. Aviation fuel stocks ran out at 17:15 last night. Despite initial concerns that a new supply would not be available until midnight, the refinery was able to begin pumping fuel again at 17:30 yesterday.

"Overnight, 3 million litres of fuel was supplied to the fuel storage facility at Manchester Airport meaning operations were returned to normal at 08:30 this morning. Thanks to the co-operation between airlines, fuel companies and airport staff, only 13 flights were delayed in total – 12 for less than 30 minutes and one for two-and-a-half hours.

"The majority of airlines travelling to Manchester carried enough additional fuel to complete both legs of the journey. Seventeen departures from Manchester also made a short stop at other UK airports to top up fuel before completing the onward journey."

The statement concluded: "With its operations now returned to normal, Manchester Airport, its airlines and the fuel companies will be working together to review the incident, learn lessons and mitigate any risk of disruption that might be caused by a similar incident in the future."