As forecast by CRS in our Twitter feed
last week, Manchester Airport ran out of fuel on Friday, delaying more
than a dozen flights. But how does an airport run dry? Airports are in
the business of getting planes into the air. That means refuelling
aircraft on the ground. So when Manchester Airport ran out of fuel this
week and planes were delayed, it prompted questions about how airports
receive their fuel.
Manchester gets through three million litres
of aviation fuel a day. It arrives by pipeline from the Essar refinery
near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire. But a production problem meant that
fuel stopped being pumped to the airport early on Wednesday morning. The
30-mile pipeline is the airport's only source of aviation fuel, every
day transporting the equivalent of 79 road tankers' worth of fuel, but
suddenly the flow of fuel dried up. Usually the airport has between 12
and 24 hours of spare capacity. But the Jubilee weekend had been very
busy with about 300,000 people flying over the four days, a spokesman
said. And by 17:15 BST the fuel had run out. Fuel began flowing again
at the refinery at about the same time. But it takes 4-6 hours for it to
travel down the 30-mile pipeline. It then needs two hours to settle as
it is pumped at high pressure. Manchester's empty tanks led to 13
flights being delayed, while 17 departures from Manchester also made a
stop at other UK airports to top up fuel before completing their
journey.
The incident shows up Manchester's reliance on a single
source for its fuel. In contrast, Heathrow Airport has access to more
than one refinery, is supplied by multiple pipelines and has access to
tankers. A Heathrow spokeswoman said the airport had "days’ worth" of
fuel in storage but refused to give an exact figure. A bigger tank at
Manchester Airport or an intermediate storage centre somewhere along the
pipeline would allow the airport to store more. So why not plan for
contingencies like a problem at the refinery?
Cost is the main
reason. An airport wanting to store a week's worth of fuel would need to
create huge storage tanks where the fuel was kept safely. And such
incidents are so rare that the cost of stockpiling has to be balanced
against the low probability of a shortage occurring. The vast majority
of the time, the space would be totally unnecessary. Until this
incident Manchester had had no problems with getting fuel. Indeed the
direct pipeline from the Essar refinery meant that during recent fuel
blockades when motorists and public services were hit, the airport
received an uninterrupted flow of fuel. "The pipeline has been there
since the 1960s and this is the first time that this has happened," the
spokesman said. "We've been asked why we didn't have road tankers on
standby. But to have 79 road tankers on standby in case something new
happens is a bit unrealistic."
David Learmount, operations and
safety editor at Flight International, says the incident showed a lack
of "lateral thinking" at the airport. "I've never heard of it happening
before. An airport running out of fuel for aircraft is unique." To rely
purely on one source of aviation fuel is a mistake, he says. "There
should be a Plan B - tankers, greater storage capacity or a second
pipeline with independent pumping." He is unconvinced by the argument
that the pipeline has been operating for over 40 years with no hitch.
"Manchester Airport in the 60s was like Sleepy Hollow compared to now.
If they haven't advanced since then, questions need to be asked. What
lateral thinking are they doing?"
CRS has helped many
organisations develop business contingency plans, and we’d be pleased to
help yours. There will always be a debate about what the right balance
is when planning for contingencies. But for an airport, there's no
getting around the fact that running out of fuel is an embarrassment it
can do without.
No comments:
Post a Comment