Fuel row airliner cancels weekend India flights

AN AIRLINER which asked passengers to pay for its fuel to continue their journey home has cancelled its weekend flights to India.

Birmingham Airport said it was “very concerned” about the situation involving Austrian registered Comtel Air.

It confirmed all planned flights between Birmingham and Amritsar for the coming weekend have been cancelled.

A number of passengers complained they had been asked to pay up to 150 Euros to continue their journey to Birmingham from Amritsar after the plane was grounded in Vienna.

One passenger, Reena Rindi, told Channel 4 News: “We wanted to go home. We’d been stranded for about three to four days. Who was going to take us home?

“If we didn’t have the money they were making us go one by one outside in Vienna to get the cash out.”

Reports also suggest a number of travellers who brought tickets for flights on the airliner are stranded in India.

Birmingham Airport said Comtel Air has been operating from Birmingham Airport to Amritsar since October and had up till now “offered a successful operation to several hundred passengers.”

It advised anyone who was due to travel with the airliner to seek advice from the travel agency they had booked through.

“Clearly, we are very concerned about this situation and understand the distress that this is causing those passengers directly involved and their loved ones,” a statement from the airport said.

“We stress that we are very disappointed that the operator is having these problems this week and we working hard to provide some clarity going forward.

“We expect the airline to clarify the situation regarding its flight programme going forward within the next few days.”

 

Comtel Air Birmingham to Amritsar flights cancelled are as follows:

Friday 18th November:

COE732: Birmingham-Amritsar STD 16:15

Saturday 19th November:

COE702C: Amritsar–Birmingham STD 04:30

COE732: Birmingham-Amritsar STD 18:15

Sunday 20th November:

COE702C: Amritsar-Birmingham STD 05:30