With oil companies stopping the supply of fuel to Air India over non-payment of dues, four flights of the national carrier were grounded in Kerala on Friday.
An airline spokesperson said one flight each in the international and domestic sectors in Kochi, one flight from Kozhikode, and a domestic flight from Thiruvananthapuram were cancelled in Kerala.
Flight AI 519 to Bangalore and (Air India Express) Flight IX 411 to Sharjah were off. However, most of the airline's operations to the Gulf countries from Kochi remained unaffected. A Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai flight was cancelled in the morning. The Kozhikode-Muscat IX 337, scheduled to leave at 11 a.m., was cancelled.
The company was refunding passengers or endorsing tickets for use in other carriers.
An official said the oil companies had agreed to provide ATF for the day following discussions, but may restrict supplies again on Saturday. “We are in the process of planning all our schedules so that no service gets affected by fuel shortage,” he added.
Passengers protest
At the Kochi International Airport, passengers of an Air India flight to Riyadh staged a protest against delay, and demanded compensation. The flight finally took off at 4.45 p.m. The Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi-Riyadh AI 929 was scheduled to leave at 1.20 p.m. But passengers were not allowed to check in. “The aircraft was not released from Thiruvananthapuram as the airline was not sure of refuelling at Kochi, which caused a delay. On an intervention by the authorities, the oil company agreed to provide ATF,” said A.C.K. Nair, Airport Director. There were reports of passenger protests at the Kozhikode airport also.
