Kochi: The Air India flight to Dubai from Delhi via Kochi was held up at the Nedumbassery airport for nearly four hours on Monday as the oil firms refused refuelling citing Air India’s debt of Rs 5,000 crore to them. The amount includes the interest accrued on outstanding dues. Around 300 passengers of Dreamliner AI 933, including those who boarded it from Kochi, faced the brunt as it ran out of fuel.
The flight scheduled to depart at 9.15 a.m. left around 1 p.m. after Petrol-eum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri intervened at the instance of Anto Antony MP who took up the issue after some passengers contacted him and complained to him.
“AICC secretary K. Sreenivasan was among the passengers in the aircraft. There were many returning to the Gulf after vacation and for business purpose and I was contacted by them. I called Hardeep Singh Puri and later Dharmendra Pradh-an, who messaged me saying that the issue had been sorted out. He also told me that both being in the public sector, things should not have been taken to such a head,” Anto Antony told DC. All passengers from Kochi had boarded the flight following which the delay was announced, he said.
Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have stopped the supply of fuel to Air India at six airports, including Cochin, from Thursday. The other airports are Visakhapatnam, Mohali, Ranchi, Pune and Patna. Oil company sour-ces said that fuel was re-fused as a warning only.
An Air India official at Cochin airport refused to comment on the issue. The Kochi-Agathi Air India flight too was affected by the action.
According to sources, Air India now refuels from metro airports, mainly Delhi, as they have not been targeted by the oil companies so far.
