The burden of unpaid bills again caught up with Air India on Friday and could catch up with Kingfisher Airlines by the coming Wednesday.

In a late evening development, GMR operated Delhi and Hyderabad airport announced that Air India and Kingfisher Airlines have been put on a cash-and-carry basis from June 1. This would mean that the two airlines need to clear their airport charges for every take-off and landing before operating flights out of the two airports.

In a statement, the airport said this was being done ``in order to control the significant dues recoverable from the two airlines”.

Air India owes the two airports about Rs 252 crore while the dues of Kingfisher Airlines are about Rs 89 crore.

“It is expected that the two airlines will clear major outstanding payments owed by the airlines to the Delhi and Hyderabad airport,” GMR said in a statement.

AI cancels flights as fuel cut off

Air India also faced restricted supply of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) on Friday. The three public sector oil companies, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation stopped supply of ATF to Air India by 20 per cent to all airports.

As a result of the fuel cut, Air India had to cancel six flights from Thiruvananthapuram.

However, after talks between the oil companies and the airline over the course of the day an agreement was reached and the curtailment in ATF supply would not be imposed on all airports. Air India's total fuel dues to oil companies amount to about Rs 2,400 crore.

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