00:00The government is consulting on giving more flexibility to airlines so that they can manage their flight schedules in a
00:08responsible way.
00:09There is no shortage of jet fuel at the moment and when I spoke to the airlines on Thursday, they're
00:16really confident about the next six to eight weeks of supply.
00:20That's really normal. That's the way that they would buy their fuel normally and the horizon that they would work
00:26to.
00:26But clearly the situation in the Middle East is still an evolving one.
00:31We need to get the Straits of Hormuz reopened because 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas
00:38comes on international shipping and oil tankers through that channel.
00:42Whilst we're importing more jet fuel from places like America at the moment and there is no immediate threat to
00:50supply,
00:51I think it's right that we enable airlines to plan responsibly so that if, and it's a big if because
00:59we're not there at the moment,
01:01if there are constraints to supply then they can run appropriate schedules and people can get decent notice.
01:09I don't want passengers turning up at departure gates and getting a text message 20 minutes before they're meant to
01:16be going on their holiday and finding out that that flight won't be taking off.
01:20And so as part of sensible contingency planning, this government has been working with the airlines.
01:25The airlines have said this would help them.
01:27The airlines have said this would help them.
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