Heathrow Airport faces further disruption as refuelling workers announce strike

Dozens of employees will walk out, resulting in a shortage of staff to refuel aircraft

Refuelling workers at Heathrow Airport voted to strike in a dispute with bosses over salaries. AFP

Aircraft refuelling workers at Heathrow Airport have announced a 72-hour strike in a dispute over wages, piling more pressure on the UK travel industry during the summer holiday season.

Employees of Aviation Fuel Services (AFS) voted to walk out on Thursday, July 21, because the company has not raised salaries in three years, the Unite union said. About 50 personnel are expected to go on strike.

AFS is a joint venture between fuel companies BP, TotalEnergies SE, Q8 Aviation and Valero Energy, and supplies fuel to more than 70 airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Emirates, the union said.

A spokesman for Heathrow said he could not comment on the possible effects of the refuelling workers’ plans. AFS could not immediately be reached for comment.

The industrial action will add to the mountain of problems the travel sector is facing amid a surge in demand for flights while airlines and airports are in the process of hiring and training new staff.

A spokesman for Heathrow last week told The National the number of passengers passing through the airport is at the highest level since before the Covid-19 pandemic began and bosses expect an “extremely busy summer season”.

An industrywide shortage of workers is being felt most acutely at Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, and Manchester Airport, compared with other aviation centres in the UK.

Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images

An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919

Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946

The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955

The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955

US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956

An aerial view showing the runways in 1958

The arrivals and departures board in 1960

A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961

The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965

The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965

Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966

Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970

Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971

Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973

Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976

Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977

Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978

Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979

Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981

British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984

Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997

Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal

Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003

Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003

Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004

Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period

Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police

Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007

The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008

Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016

Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century

A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images

Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold

An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020

British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021

Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022

British Airways staff at Heathrow last month voted to strike in a row over pay. The airline is now holding talks with the Unite union in an attempt to avert potential walkouts of up to 500 check-in staff.

BA, which has its main base at Heathrow, has already cancelled hundreds of flights scheduled for this summer.

Airlines across Europe, including SAS AB, Ryanair and EasyJet, have also suffered strikes.

BA on Tuesday said it will cancel hundreds more summer flights because previous schedule cuts aimed at easing disruption proved insufficient.

The airline said in a statement that it has “regrettably” become necessary to further reduce its operations.

Tens of thousands of passengers will be affected by the move to cancel flights at Heathrow and Gatwick.

The government has introduced a slot amnesty, which enables airlines to temporarily hand back without punishment any take-off and landing slots they do not have the resources to use. Under normal rules, carriers lose slots if they do not use them.

Heathrow has urged airlines to take an honest look at their schedules and take advantage of the government’s change of rules to avoid further chaos at the airport.

In May, BA, the UK’s flag carrier airline, announced that it would cancel 10 per cent of flights between April and October in an attempt to avoid having to axe flights on the day of departure. The latest cancellations take this proportion to about 11 per cent

“We took pre-emptive action earlier this year to reduce our summer schedule to provide customers with as much notice as possible about any changes to their travel plans,” BA said.

“As the entire aviation industry continues to face into the most challenging period in its history, regrettably it has become necessary to make some further reductions.

“We’re in touch with customers to apologise and offer to rebook them or issue a full refund.”

The airline welcomed the slot amnesty, saying it is “making it easier to consolidate some of our quieter daily flights to multi-frequency destinations well in advance, and to protect more of our holiday flights”.