Owing To Big Debts, Air India’s Oil Supply To Be Cut At 6 Major Airports; Passengers To Face Delays, Cancellations

The public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) have threatened of cutting oil supplies to Air India at six major airports in the country from 18 October. This may result in several flight delays and cancellation for its customers, reports The Economic Times.

The companies have sent a letter to Air India saying that the fuel supply would be cut if the national carrier did not make ‘lumpsum payments, as has been agreed’, which owes a debt of around Rs 5,000 crore to the oil suppliers.

“In the event on non receipt of monthly lumpsum payment, as has been agreed in the meetings held on 26/08/2019 and 04/09/2019, OMCs will be constrained to stop fuel supplies at six major airports effective October 11, 2019,” the letter reads.

The letter, however later, adds that the date of supply cut has been pushed to 18 October, 2019.

The airports where the supply, as per the letter, will be discontinued are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, which is expected to cause inconvenience to several domestic as well as international fliers of the airline.

According to the letter, the airline has been making daily payments. However, that does not help the outstanding amount to come down. “It may be noted that the outstanding has not come down considerably in the absence of considerable lumpsum payments,” the missive further reads.

The airline, when contacted by ET, refused to comment on the issue.

Owing to the huge debt, the oil companies have, in past also, discontinued the supplies to Air India at several airports. In August, the supplies were cut to the public airline in Pune, Vizag, Cochin, Patna, Ranchi, and Mohali.

The fuel supply was resumed after Air India made commitments to make payments and clear the dues, partly. The latest threat, however, has come as the airline failed to meet the commitments due to its long-going financial crisis.