Fuel shortages at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports could be regular occurrence, warns union

Fuel supply issues at Scotland’s airports could become a regular occurrence after a local shortage caused disruption to flights on Sunday, a union has warned.

Passengers faced delays at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, with some planes forced to re-route to refuel elsewhere.

Several flights from Glasgow were delayed and an Emirates flight from Edinburgh to Dubai had to stop in Manchester.

This was due to a local fuel supplier EET having a shortage of tanker drivers.

Since the closure of Grangemouth refinery last year, aviation fuel has been delivered by road by tankers from refineries in England.

The fuel supply problem affecting the airports on Sunday has since been resolved, but Unite the union said it highlights Scotland’s vulnerability.

“I think the bigger issue is that fuel product is being delivered from the north of England directly to Edinburgh and Glasgow Airport,” Lyn Turner, Unite regional officer, told STV News.

“These deliveries take priority over local deliveries, and therefore, if there are any issues within that delivery, then that ultimately has a knock-on effect.

“I think there might be a much wider point as fuel security for us, and why aren’t we producing fuel at Grangemouth, for instance.

“We’ve written to UK and Scottish ministers in respect of fuel security in Scotland and we await an answer.

“This will be a regular occurrence if it’s not addressed soon.”

Unite said there had to be government intervention to tackle fuel insecurity in Scotland.

A spokesperson for fuel supplier EET said: “EET Fuels would like to assure travellers that the short-term fuel logistics issues that affected some airlines at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports have been resolved.

“Our fuel production and availability are normal and there are no shortages.

“We would like to apologise to our airline customers and any passenger whose journey was delayed because of these issues.”

STV News has asked the Scottish and UK governments for comment.

In a statement posted on social media, the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “The logistics issues at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports over the weekend have now been resolved.

“This was due to driver logistics and is not linked to the conflict in the Middle East or wider supply issues. To be clear, UK airlines are not currently seeing any shortage of jet fuel.”

The local disruption comes after heightened tensions in the Middle East sent oil prices soaring.

The war in Iran has led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a key oil and gas shipping route – which has raised concern over jet fuel supply in the UK and Europe.