BAA, the FTSE 100 airports group, is rationing aviation fuel at Heathrow, forcing some of the world’s biggest airlines to divert to other airports to refuel.

The rations are the result of Sunday’s fire at the Buncefield oil storage facility at Hemel Hempstead, which wiped out Total’s fuel depot. The depot supplied Heathrow with a third of the airport’s jet fuel requirement through a direct pipeline.

The rations at Heathrow have forced Qantas, the Australian carrier, to make unscheduled refuelling stops at Stansted, which is adding up to 90 minutes to its journey.

Other carriers, thought to include South African Airlines and Singapore Airlines, are also being forced to make additional stops as far afield as Italy.

A BAA spokeswoman said: “We have placed restrictions on fuel uplift and some carriers won’t be able to take on enough fuel for the entire journey. We are asking short-haul aircraft to tanker fuel from foreign airports to Heathrow.”

Long-haul aircraft are being allowed only two thirds of their normal fuel load while short-haul airlines are being allocated half their requirements.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic said that they were unaffected by the fuel rations. The rationing is having a disproportionate effect on foreign airlines because the contingency plans agreed by BAA and its customers give priority to long-haul domestic carriers.

BAA said that it was impossible to predict how long the disruption would last or what long-term measures would be taken to replace what was Heathrow’s largest source of fuel.

As well as Buncefield, the airport secures a quarter of its jet fuel needs through a pipeline from a depot at the ExxonMobil oil refinery at Fawley in Southampton. Another quarter comes from Walton-on-Thames, while 15 per cent is brought in by rail tankers.

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