Heathrow fuel workers suspend strike after improved offer

Refueling workers at London Heathrow airport called off a strike that was set to begin Thursday and had threatened further disruptions at the UK travel hub.

The walkout was suspended after Aviation Fuel Services Ltd. made a “sustainably improved offer,” the Unite union said in a statement Wednesday. The roughly 50 employees involved will now be given time to consider the proposal, which came about in talks facilitated by a conciliation service, the group said.

AFS is a joint venture among fuel companies BP Plc, TotalEnergies SE, Q8 Aviation and Valero Energy, and supplies fuel to more than 70 airlines including American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Emirates, according to the union.

The threatened action by refueling workers was one of a number of labor disputes that have contributed to travel chaos across Europe this summer. British Airways, whose main base is Heathrow, earlier this month reached an agreement with check-in employees to head off a strike, after the carrier scrapped thousands of flights amid a staffing crunch.

The airport last week imposed a two-month cap on daily passenger traffic to contain chaos, asking airlines to stop selling tickets for the summer season. That prompted a clash with some carriers, with the airport blaming them for not recruiting enough workers to handle rebounding demand for travel.

The AFS workers had planned to strike for up to three days. Details of the new offer were not disclosed.

Another London airport, Gatwick, said Thursday that it has hired 400 more security workers in recent weeks to try to alleviate bottlenecks, and continues to recruit more.