Lufthansa asks crews to take more fuel on flights to Frankfurt — TimesLIVE

Lufthansa has asked pilots operating flights to Frankfurt am Main in Germany to refuel aircraft with additional jet fuel at other airports. The company is responding to restrictions on fuel supplies to the country’s largest aviation hub.

Refuelling before arrival

As TimesLIVE reports, Germany’s Bild newspaper, citing internal instructions for Lufthansa pilots, wrote about the use of the tankering practice. It involves loading more fuel than is needed for the flight itself so that, after arriving in Frankfurt, an aircraft requires less refuelling or may not need to refuel there at all.

According to Bild, the additional reserve for Airbus A320 family aircraft was limited to eight tonnes so that the aircraft could be towed on the ground. The rules primarily apply to short-haul flights, but they are increasingly being used for some long-haul services as well.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Reasons for the restrictions

The reduction in supplies is linked to several months of low water levels in the Rhine, which has complicated fuel deliveries by barge. An additional factor was a reduction in the capacity of the pipeline through which jet fuel reaches the airport due to scheduled maintenance.

Lufthansa told Bild that it had taken precautionary measures, including arranging additional refuelling before flights to Frankfurt, in order to maintain flight reliability. The airline currently does not expect flight cancellations. Airport operator Fraport said that the pipeline is undergoing scheduled maintenance, but this does not affect airport operations.