Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Holiday flights returning to the UK from Egypt have been disrupted in a row over fuel payments.
Budget carrier easyJet had to put three planeloads of passengers up for the night in Egyptian hotels after the local supplier refused to refill its planes.
Passengers on one Gatwick-bound easyJet plane that got away late from Sharm el-Sheikh were initially told in an airport announcement that the delay was due to easyJet "not being able to pay its fuel bill".
But easyJet said today that it had no outstanding fuel invoices with the Egyptian refuelling company and would be "changing suppliers immediately".
Passenger Tom Stanley, 83, from Deal in Kent, arrived back nearly two hours late at Gatwick today after an easyJet flight.
He said: "There was an airport announcement at Sharm el-Sheik that easyJet could not pay its fuel bill and that was the reason for our delay.
"Then we were told that the flight had been cancelled and then, finally, we were able to board late and the pilot told us that the airport had run out of fuel."
The easyJet flights from Egypt that were delayed overnight were Luxor to Gatwick, Hurghada to Gatwick and Sharm el-Sheikh to Luton.
EasyJet said today: "We can confirm that, regrettably, three of our flights were disrupted overnight due to a refuelling issue in Egypt.
"We can also confirm that easyJet has no outstanding fuel invoices with the refuelling company and as a result of the disruption we will be changing suppliers immediately."
The spokeswoman added: "We are aware that other airlines have recently experienced similar issues and we have raised this with the Egyptian authorities at the highest level.
"We have apologised to the passengers disrupted and have reassured them that this will not happen again. All passengers were given overnight accommodation and flights have been rescheduled for this morning."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments