Oil strike delays flights across airports

Kolkata: Slow re-fuelling due to the strike by officers of oil companies delayed both domestic and international flights from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata and the Mumbai airport on Thursday.
The delay in flight operations started since the early hours as re-fuelling was taking time due to the absence of executive-rank officials of oil companies at the airport, Kolkata airport sources said.
Meanwhile, more than 20 domestic flights, mostly belonging to Jet Airways, were affected in Mumbai as re-fuelling services were hit due to the strike.
In Kolkata, Air India flights to Port Blair, Agartala, Guwahati and Hyderabad were delayed by nearly 20 minutes. Only the flight to Aizawl left on time, said airport officials.
Several flights of foreign airlines were also affected and left about 15 to 20 minutes behind schedule, the sources said. However, he did not name the airlines affected.
Private airlines were less affected as they took fuel from Hindustan Petroleum, whose officers are not participating in the strike that entered its second day on Thursday. Air India and foreign airlines were hard hit as they take fuel from Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited whose officers are on strike, the sources said.
Airport officials confirmed that fuel stored at the airport is enough to operate till Friday.
08/01/09 Press Trust of India/NDTV.com

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Categories: Airports Jan 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2009