Israel's main airport trying to clear backlog after fuel chaos

May 6, 2011, 8:58 GMT

Tel Aviv - Flights were taking off from Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport every few minutes Friday, as the country's gateway tried desperately to clear the backlog caused by contaminated fuel which had grounded aircraft.

Aircraft began leaving overnight Thursday, Israeli media reported, after Ben Gurion was plunged into chaos when the contaminated fuel had been discovered Thursday afternoon, causing authorities to call a halt to all refueling from the airport's fuel depots.

Incoming aircraft were ordered to stop in Cyprus, Greece and Jordan, to tap up their fuel tanks so they would later have enough fuel to be able to takeoff from Ben Gurion, while planes from Israeli carriers were unable to depart, leaving thousands of frustrated passengers stranded.

On Thursday night the airport began dipping into its fuel reserves, and tanker trucks were bringing in millions of liters from other fuel deports, in an attempt to alleviate the chaos.

According to the YNet news site, the cause of the contamination has yet to be determined, but the Israel Institute of Energy and Environment has been able to rule out the possibility of a biological agent.

Samples of the contaminated fuel have been sent to a German laboratory for further analysis and the results are not expected before Friday afternoon.

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