Oil companies resume supply after Air India gives part payment of fuel dues

Oil Marketing companies on Monday suspended ATF supply for Air India domestic flights for few hours owing to payment default. Refueling of all domestic Air India flights from 8 locations was stopped. This includes Mohali, Patna, Pune , Trivandrum, Lucknow, Vishakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Jaipur. However, it was resumed later by OMCs after Air India paid their dues partially. 

OMCs have been discussing with  Air India to clear dues worth Rs 5000 cr that are pending for a while now. Air India so far has been paying Rs 20 crore daily but has been defaulting on payments lately. OMCs want past dues to be cleared first.  This move comes at a time when rupee is all time low and crude prices are rising which is hurting the financials of all airline companies. 

Air India on its part has knocked on Govt's door for capitalisation of Rs 2000 cr for now.

The government is likely to finalise a revival package for debt-laden Air India in 10 to 15 days, a senior official said on last Thursday, reported PTI . Earlier this year, efforts for strategic disinvestment of the airline failed to take off. Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said the government is likely to finalise Air India revival package in 10-15 days. The difficult situation in the airline sector is mainly on account of high crude prices and depreciation of the rupee, he told reporters after his meeting with Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg.

With Agency inputs