Etihad to get fuel directly from Essar Oil UK in Manchester

Essar commenced supply to Etihad on July 1, the company said in a press statement here.

Essar Oil (UK) Ltd is a subsidiary of Essar Energy Ltd, which owns and operates the Stanlow Refinery located on the south side of the Mersey Estuary near Liverpool. Stanlow produces 16 per cent of the UK's road transport fuels, including three billion litres of petrol and 4.4 billion litres of diesel, as well as 2 billion litres of jet fuel per year.

Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and part of the Etihad Aviation Group (EAG). It operates two flights per day direct from Manchester, UK to Abu Dhabi.

From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad flies to more than 110 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.

"This deal strengthens Essar's aviation proposition in the UK, with the company now having direct jet fuel supply agreements in place with major airlines operating out of Manchester, Heathrow and Leeds Bradford airports," it said.

Stanlow supplies, on a wholesale basis, a significant proportion of Manchester airport as well as Liverpool John Lennon and other regional airports' jet fuel demand.

S Thangapandian, Chief Executive Officer at Essar Oil UK, said: "This is another significant step in realising our objective of value chain integration by combining our refinery supply strength with our marketing capabilities in the aviation sector. This is aligned with our strategy of expanding the downstream presence of the business."

The agreement with Etihad Airways is the latest development in Essar Oil UK's strategy of downstream integration, which has also seen a successful entry into the UK fuel retail market with the opening of 33 Essar branded service stations to date. "Looking forward, Essar has also committed to a significant multi-million dollar capital investment in major improvements to key units at Stanlow to deliver further reduction in crude oil costs and improved yields across the finished product range," the statement added.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has slammed American Airlines' decision to end its codeshare relationships with the former as "anti-competitive and anti-consumer".

The American-Etihad codeshare, which started in 2009, would end on March 25, 2018, an Etihad Airways spokesman confirmed in a statement e-mailed to Khaleej Times.

"We view the decision by American Airlines as being anti-competitive and anti-consumer. This action will reduce choices for consumers and may result in higher fares for travellers to and from the United States," the statement read.