Fuel at main Paris airport could run out by Monday

Continuing protests at oil refineries across France are raising fears of acute shortages and may cause fuel to run out at Roissy Charles de Gaulle, the main Paris airport, by early next week, officials say.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - The main Paris airport Roissy Charles de Gaulle has enough aviation fuel to last until Monday evening or Tuesday after French pension reform protests hit supplies, a transport ministry spokesman said.

"We have ways of finding a solution to supply the airport. We're confident," the spokesman told AFP on Saturday, asking not to be named.

"The pipeline supplying fuel to (Paris' other main airport) Orly and Roissy airport is working intermittently," he said.

The head of the French Oil Industry Association (UFIP) Jean-Louis Schilansky told AFP earlier that with 10 out of France's 12 refineries shut down by strikes protesting government pension reform plans, the situation was "tense."

"The pipeline supplying fuel to Orly and Roissy airports continues to function and we're working, through different means, to find products to put into the pipeline, notably aviation fuel," Schilansky said.