Jet fuel tight in Frankfurt: Lufthansa planes take on up to eight tonnes extra
With pipeline maintenance under way and low water on the Rhine and Main, Lufthansa is sparing fuel stocks at Germany's busiest airport. No flight cancellations are expected.
Symbolic image · Photo: Gnoeee / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Lufthansa is having aircraft on selected routes to Frankfurt take on extra fuel before departure. The airline said capacity of the airport's pipeline link had been reduced, while operator Fraport cited routine maintenance on one of the lines. Low water levels on the Rhine and Main since the summer also mean tanker barges can only be partly loaded.
Aircraft of the A320 family will carry up to eight tonnes of additional fuel, against a tank capacity of about 20 tonnes, dpa reported. The extra weight is capped so that no cargo or passengers have to be offloaded. Lufthansa called the step a purely precautionary measure, said it expected no cancellations and hoped to end it in the foreseeable future.
Fraport said supply was not at risk and airport operations were unaffected. Its fuel farm holds 186 million litres, enough for about ten days, according to the company. Two pipelines link the airport to North Sea ports, one of them the NATO pipeline. It was unclear whether other airlines were affected.