LHR Fuel strike ??

[MAN777]

Just reported on local radio station in Manchester.

48 hr Fuel strike threatened this friday at LHR affecting 40 airlines.

Any further known ?

[southern duel]

yes

by H&G Contracting Services Lts who are the sole contractor providing fuel for refuelling operators for AFS Ltd. Numerous carriers affected.

Starts Friday 5am. Finishes 5am Sunday morning.

More talks tomorrow ( tuesday ) apparantly

Looking forward to those shifts !!

:\

[planecrazi]

We are due out around 9pm Friday night with around 90 tons required for 12 hours. I suppose I must pack a little extra clothing now!:bored:

[HOODED]

Guess Stanstead Luton Manchester etc could be busy then if it goes ahead.

[ORAC]

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3674130.stm) report.

[BANANASBANANAS]

Try and sort it out chaps. I have an 0940 departure saturday morning and I'm on a promise!

[HOODED]

Don't look like it's sorted yet! Talks broke up without agreement, strike starts Friday. I'm sure there'll be some last minute agreement though there usually is.

[Man-on-the-fence]

I would be interested to hear what the perceived effects of this would be, I am flying LHR to LAX on Saturday am, I have a good book to read. Do I need to take another one?

[Captain Rat]

As to the effects if the strike goes ahead, Ithink it will depend very much on which airline. Most of the bigger airlines, BA, VS etc use more than one company for refuelling. (Normally done by flight numbers). However the ther fuel companies will not be able to fill in if FS do strike. Like most companies now there are just about fully stretched. So if the strike goes ahead there will be considerable disruption, which will obviously impact for several days due to a/c beingin the wrong places, backlog of pax etc. Lets just hope they sort things out.

[Man-on-the-fence]

A question (and its possibly a silly one so please be kind).

Is it feasable or possible or probable that an aircraft (say a 747-400) can fly from LA and land at LHR with enough fuel to take off (fully loaded except for fuel) for an alternate airport (say Prestwick) to refuel for the rest of its journey. Or am I clutching at straws and really should just prepare to spend a few days in T3?

You can tell I'm a passenger and not a Pilot :)

[MAN777]

Yes its been done before, I remember the Paris fuel strike several years ago. The AF, AA and AC aircraft on North Atlantic services took off on remainder fuel loads and landed at Manchester, uplifted the required amount and continued on their way after about 40 mins.

[behind_the_second_midland]

As far as BA are concerned the company involved only fuel T4.

There are contingency plans in place for tankering into LHR on 777 and 747 and pre fuelling. They are also in negotiations about other companies filling in (up!)

BA are prioritising their long range departures and have contingency plans for tech stops, probably outside the UK. for others

Shannon may be busy!

BTSM

[Bagso]

Must confess I cannot see anything go to SNN....

I would have thought it would be a remote park, then fuel and go at Manchester...!

[Man-on-the-fence]

Any idea what United are planning?
I assume they will be affected.

Thanks very much for all the info so far,

[behind_the_second_midland]

United may not be afftected. It depends if it is their refueller that is on strike.

[Man-on-the-fence]

Which leads us to the obvious question, who fuels United?

[ORAC]

Are these coordinated? Stinks a bit....

BBC: Gatwick workers on weekend strike

Twenty-four hour walkouts are due to start at 0300 BST on 25 and 30 September.

The strikes are due to start at 0300 BST on both days
Nearly 600 Gatwick Airport baggage handlers and maintenance workers have voted to strike on Saturday in a row over workloads.

Transport and General Workers Union members employed by Servisair will also walk out on 30 September if no agreement is reached......

The strike will affect the baggage, aircraft loading and cargo warehouse operations but plans are in place to minimise disruption, Servisair said. A spokesman for airport operator BAA at Gatwick said the company was working with Servisair to assess the impact of the strike. She said Servisair was one among four handling agents at the airport, albeit an important one.......

Servisair is the second largest ground handler at Gatwick Airport, after British Airways. The French-owned company serves around 30 of the airlines that fly out of Gatwick, including Easyjet, Ryanair, Delta and Continental, and charters such as Thomas Cook, Britannia, My Travel and Excell.

British Airways handles all of its flights, so none of their journeys should be affected.

[Man-on-the-fence]

Methinks the common link here is the TGWU.

It is possible/probable that there are genuine grievances here however the Union do themselves no favours when they plan things like this.

[HZ123]

I heard that Cardiff Luton & Brize had been approached for fuel if required.

[behind_the_second_midland]

From BA
British Airways has now secured refuelling capacity for all our flights at Heathrow over the two day period and are not expecting the potential action by staff at AFS to have a significant impact on our operation.

BTSM

[Man-on-the-fence]

It appears employers and the Union are talking again.

We wait with baited breath.

[Captain Rat]

Appears most long haul airlines have now got plans in place; ie tanker fuel on inbound flights, depart on schedule (if possible) and stop at enroute airport to refuel, ie Prestwick, LGW, SNN

[Vuelo]

American Airlines to re-direct 18 flights in to Manchester tomorrow, 24/09/2004. Anyone know of any other diverts in to Manchester?

[Man-on-the-fence]

I see the Union has turned down the latest offer.

Thanks for the updates chaps, it seems like its almost under control.

Captain Rat, define "most" :D

[MAN777]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3682586.stm[/URL]

[mickey71]

ref the fuel strike at lhr,we at stn have been put on standby
to handle 05 gulf air's and a number of kuwait airways flights.
kibris turkish are also looking to tech stop.

as for the strike in lgw rumour was that tui were going to
move all britannia flights ex lgw to stn that was until the
baa said go away we have not got the concrete!

[oncemorealoft]

Vuelo

AA is not routing flights into MAN unless needed. So far today I understand all flights have departed with the required fuel either on-time or early!

[ManofMan]

Veulo,
AA dont have 18 flights from EGLL to operate into Man, guess this shows one thing though, with most flights leaving on-time from EGLL it just goes to show that the employers might want to look at possibly making 40 re-fuelers redundant in EGLL as it seems that they are surplus to requirements.

[Man-on-the-fence]

Most flights on the BAA site are showing take off time 30 mins after scheduled departure time. There are some longer delays but nothing drastic.

Will see how things are at the end of the day.

[CarbHeatIn]

MOTF,

To answer your previous question,

United uses both companies at LHR for fuel.

UA's contingency plan (if needed) was to send the 935 (LAX, 772), 955 (SFO, 772), 931 (SFO, 744), 919 (IAD, 744) and 929 (ORD, 772) away non-stop. (Fuelled by their non striking supplier).

Plans were in place to divert the following to uplift fuel:

PIK: UA 949 (ORD, 772) and UA 959 (ORD, 772).
SNN: UA 905 (JFK, 772) and UA 957 (JFK, 763)
DUB: UA923 (IAD, 763), UA 921 (IAD, 763) and UA 925 (IAD, 772)

In any event UA secured all the necessary fuel at LHR and all flights went away more or less on time with no planned stops enroute.

[Man-on-the-fence]

CarbHeatIn

Thanks very much for the info, it is much appreciated..

MOTF