Airlines will submit a proposal this week to tackle the way fuel is rationed at London's Heathrow Airport following allegations that non-UK carriers are being unfairly penalized by current shortages at the airport, they said on Tuesday.

An oil depot explosion knocked out about a third of Heathrow's fuel supply in December, forcing carriers from the United States, Asia, South Africa and elsewhere to tanker in large amounts of fuel or to re-fuel at other airports.

Global airlines body IATA will meet on Thursday to find an alternative to the current fuel-rationing system which allows British carriers based at Heathrow to fill up with more fuel than non-UK airlines.

"We are hopeful that meeting will lead to a way to tackle the problem of fuel shortages at Heathrow which is equitable for all the airlines involved," a spokesman for American Airlines, which has led opposition to the system, said.

American this week introduced a GBP