Fuel supply to Air India stopped at 6 airports

The oil marketing companies (OMCs) led by IndianOil have stopped the supply of fuel to Air India on six different airports across the country on the non-payment of dues.

The six airports where the supply of oil fuel has been stopped include Ranchi, Mohali, Patna, Vizag, Pune, and Cochin. “The supply has been stopped because of the non-payment of the dues,” a source in the know confirmed.

The halting of the air-fuel supply has impacted the operations of Alliance Air, which is an Indian regional airline and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India. “Alliance Air has smaller aircraft, so it can’t carry excess fuel,” the sources said.

Alliance Air flights on many routes are affected, including Cochin-Agatti, Cochin-Mysore, Hyderabad-Pune, Pune-Goa, Ranchi-Raipur, Ranchi-Bhuvaneswar, Ranchi-Kolkata, and Chandigarh-Kullu, the source said.

However, the flights of the parent company – Air India – haven’t been impacted as the larger aircraft owned by it are being supplied with excess fuel from other airports, sources confirmed.

“In the absence of equity support, Air India cannot handle the huge debt service liabilities. Our financial performance this fiscal, however, is very good and we are moving towards a healthy operating profit. The airline despite its legacy issues is performing very well,” said an Air India spokesperson, when contacted.