Tuesday, September 20, 2011

500 fliers suffer in oil arm-twist at Kolkata airport, India.

KOLKATA: Around 500 holidayers returning to Tehran from Thai seaside resort Phuket landed in a mess at Kolkata airport late on Monday night as Indian Oil refused to refuel the two aircraft till dues were cleared. Till the transaction took place on Tuesday afternoon, the hapless passengers remained stranded in Kolkata, a bulk of them cooped up inside an aircraft for nearly 12 hours because the airport did not have the requisite infrastructure to host them.

When the nightmare finally ended and the flights took off late on Tuesday afternoon, the passengers were famished, having had only a sparse meal in those 12 hours. Those travelling economy class were worse off with feet swollen and toes numb from the long hours in the cramped seats. The toilets also stank as they remained dirty for nearly a day. When the passengers finally reached their destination late on Tuesday, they had no fond memories of the wonderful time in Thailand's fun resort. They carried home a traumatic experience that is sure to haunt them for a long time to come.

Iranian private carrier Mahan Air, which has had a dodgy record with allegations of forged acquisition of three Boeing 747-400 aircraft and a ban within the European Union for a year, has off late been making a technical halt in Kolkata during the return journey from Phuket to Tehran. Around a month ago, the airline sought Indian aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation's permission to refuel in Kolkata and has been doing so ever since.

On Monday, too, an Airbus 310 carrying 176 passengers touched down at Kolkata airport around 11pm. But the Indian Oil tanker did not roll out. Instead, an official from the fuel company informed the captain that fuel will not be supplied till the airline cleared its dues. Ironically, the fuel embargo was to be put in place the previous night but the message from oil company's headquarters in Delhi reached Kolkata airport late.

While IOC did hold a month's security deposit of Rs 30 crore from Mahan Air, under the no-credit policy that it adopted in 2006, it stops fuel transaction as soon as fuel dues touch the amount contracted for a month. In the past, Air India has also been at the receiving end of the policy devised to keep runaway fuel bills in check.

When it became apparent that the matter would not be resolved soon, airport officials opened the transit lounge to passengers. Even as the 176 passengers were settling down into the lounge chairs, another Mahan flight, a Boeing 747 with 305 passengers on board, touched down in Kolkata at 1.45am. Now the airport had a big problem on its hands. The transit lounge could accommodate 280 passengers, of which 176 seats were already occupied. The space crunch meant the passengers who had arrived in the Jumbo jet would have to spend the night in the aircraft.

Incidentally, the transit lounge capacity was even lesser a couple of years ago when passengers of two flights to Dhaka that had been diverted to the city due to inclement weather in Bangladesh, had spent the night in the planes. Following the embarrassment, more than 100 seats were added to the lounge so that it could accommodate passengers of two medium size aircraft. But a Jumbo load was too much to handle.

"Flights that undertake a technical halt need to have a ground handling contract in place. But there is no compulsion of signing a pact for passenger amenities. Hence, those in the flight could not be issued a temporary landing permit and accommodated elsewhere in the airport," an airport source explained.

Passengers waited agonizingly in the aircraft for daybreak. But morning did not bring much cheer as the oil company's office in Delhi and the airline's office in Tehran had to open before the imbroglio could be resolved. That meant any chance of resolution would happen only around early afternoon. Meanwhile, the airline authorities in Tehran contacted the Iranian embassy to get things moving.

Hungry and fatigued, passengers in the terminal were served breakfast in the morning. Those cooped up in the aircraft became restless and edgy as the hours rolled on. Though the aircraft initially had meals for the five-hour journey from Kolkata to Tehran, stocks were low. It was past noon when the passengers were finally allowed to disembark. While some were escorted into the transit lounge, the rest were taken to the departure hold. Food packets were distributed among the famished passengers.

It was around 2pm that Rs 28 crore was transferred to the oil company's account and the planes were re-fuelled. The Jumbo first took off, followed by the Airbus. In all, passengers had spent 13-16 hours at Kolkata airport in the most trying condition. "It is indeed unfortunate that passengers got caught up in the situation and it happened at an airport where the facilities are primitive," an industry official said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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