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Reuters
Passengers were left stranded when their planes were unable to refuel for their journeys
Planes have been grounded at one of Europe’s busiest airports, Amsterdam’s Schiphol, because of a fault in the aircraft refuelling system.
A problem was detected at around 13:00 (11:00 GMT) on Wednesday, affecting incoming and outbound flights, the airport says.
Thousands of passengers are stranded at the airport as only flights with enough fuel already on board can take off.
Schiphol Airport has warned the disruption could continue overnight.
The company supplying the fuel system, Aircraft Fuel Supply, said the failure of the system was not due to the heat, the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reports.
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“Planes at Schiphol cannot be refuelled right now,” the airport said in a statement. “Aircraft Fuel Supply… currently has a fault in their system. As a result, your flight may be delayed or cancelled.
“Schiphol and Aircraft Fuel Supply are working hard to find a solution. It is still unclear how long this will take, but we expect to last long into the evening. We regret any inconvenience for travellers and airlines.”
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Reuters
Planes stay grounded at Schiphol during one of the busiest periods for air travel
Some 70 planes were unable to take off from Schiphol, and passengers were stuck in a further 11 newly arrived planes because there was no gate available for disembarkation, De Volkskrant reports.
Flights destined for Schiphol were diverted to other airports.
July is one of the busiest periods for the airport as people fly off for their summer holidays.
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