WASHINGTON_American and United airlines aren't getting their fair share of jet fuel from London's Heathrow Airport, and the U.S. government has complained about it, the U.S. said Thursday.
Fuel has been rationed since a Dec. 11 explosion and fire at the Buncefield oil depot.
John Byerly, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for transportation affairs, said the U.S. has objected that British Airways gets more fuel than non-U.K. airlines.
"We have very serious problems with a discriminatory regime that favors home-based carriers," Byerly said.
James May, president of the Air Transport Association, said U.S. airports treated all carriers equally during the jet fuel shortages that followed hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita.
The U.K. fuel shortage is costing United and American $40,000 a day, and airliners flying from the Far East to the U.S. have had to make unscheduled stops to pick up fuel, May said.
"If we don't have a cure to this problem in the very near term there are going to be severe disruptions in travel to England," May said.
American Airlines's parent company is Fort Worth-based AMR Corp. United's parent company is parent UAL Corp., which emerged from bankruptcy protection on Wednesday.
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On the Net:
State Department: http://www.state.gov
Air Transport Association: http://www.airlines.org
