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US Airways may launch legal action against BAA, the owner of Heathrow Airport, over its inability to secure fuel supplies for a new service it plans to launch next month from the world's busiest airport.
Under the new Open Skies regime that throws transatlantic routes open to full competition for the first time from the end of March, a raft of airlines have unveiled plans for new Heathrow services. According to aviation industry sources, all but US Airways have signed deals with companies to refuel their planes at Heathrow.
The US carrier has just over seven weeks to find a solution before its first scheduled Heathrow-Philadelphia service begins on March 29.
BAA has appealed to several other airlines to make some of their supplies available to US Airways. None has agreed to do so.
A BAA spokeswoman said: "We are confident there will be sufficient fuel."
Fuel supply has been an issue at Heathrow since late 2005 when the Buncefield fuel storage depot in Hemel Hempstead closed down after an explosion and fire destroyed much of the site. BP, which owns a jet fuel storage depot at Buncefield, said that it hoped to begin service again in "late spring".
In the immediate aftermath of the Buncefield explosion, BAA and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) brokered an agreement under which the airlines agreed to ration their fuel. Some carriers were forced to carry excess fuel or to land at other airports to fill up. The supply situation is now much improved, although fuel remains tight.
Carriers fear that further delays to the reopening of the BP storage depots could make rationing necessary again during the peak travel months in the summer. With the beginning of Open Skies just weeks away, the airlines have been hustling to sign catering, ground crew and the fuel contracts needed before new routes come in.
- INDEPENDENT
