Passengers stranded at airport as oil company refuses to refuel SpiceJet aircraft

, TNN | Dec 17, 2014


PUNE: Several passengers were stranded at the city's Lohegaon airport as cash-strapped private carrier SpiceJet ran into further trouble on Tuesday after public sector oil company Bharat Petroleum refused to refuel their aircraft over the issue of outstanding dues. The airline has a contractual arrangement with Bharat Petroleum for refueling of aircraft.

Of the 10 SpiceJet flights scheduled to fly out of Pune on Tuesday, the airline was able to operate just three flights to Bangalore, Delhi and Kochi, the last two named were delayed by six to nine hours. Three other flights to Goa, Hyderabad and Sharjah were cancelled and the airline was taking a call on cancelling the remaining flights for the day, SpiceJet sources told TOI.

"We are already calling up all our passengers booked on the flights that are cancelled to inform them not come to the airport," an airline official said. "This is unfortunate because we did not know that the fuel company will stop refueling our aircraft," the official added. "The airline has been taking care of the affected passengers since morning."

The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is hard-pressed over the limited number of aircraft parking bays at the airport, had to intervene to get two bays occupied by SpiceJet aircraft cleared by 4.30pm. The airline paid in cash to get the two aircraft refueled and out of Pune to Delhi and Kochi, almost nine to six hours behind schedule respectively.

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