Passenger receives £28,000 after Birmingham Airport fall
18.11.11
An airline accused of asking passengers to pay extra for fuel to fly home has cancelled UK flights at the weekend.
A Comtel Air flight from Amritsar to Birmingham was grounded in Vienna on Tuesday by its Spanish carrier Mint Lineas Aereas due to financial issues.
Passengers said they were ‘held to ransom’ and asked to pay a total of £23,000 to continue their journey.
Comtel majority shareholder Bhupinder Kandra said money paid to travel agents had not been passed on to the airline.
One of the travel agencies selling seats on the flight, Astonbury Ltd, trading as Skyjet UK, has announced it has ceased trading.
The Essex-based company was registered with the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol), run by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the UK.
The CAA said it would be stepping in to ‘assist repatriation for all customers’, and estimated 200 Skyjet UK customers were currently abroad.
It added that passengers who had not yet travelled would be able to claim a full refund via the CAA.
Birmingham Airport confirmed the flight cancellations and said anyone due to travel should contact their agent.
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