New Delhi: Since Today Public sector oil firms have stopped fuel supply to Air India saying that the airline has failed to clear its dues for Tuesday. The oil firms had given Air India time till 5:30 pm today for clearing its dues.

At least five flights were reportedly cancelled within an hour of the announcement at the Mumbai airport.

Since November 2010, the airline is dealing with these oil firms on a cash-and-carry basis.

Air India and its subsidiaries owe an amount of Rs. 2300 crore to public sector oil companies. Air India was put on cash-and-carry mode of debit from December last year on account of non-payment of Rs. 2400 crore dues to the three state-run oil companies.

Due to the fuel-supply restrictions by these companies, the cash-strapped carrier had to combine and even curtail between 10 to 15 per cent of its flights on a daily basis for the past two months. It runs an average of 320 flights per day.