Diverted flights: No fuel shortage, says govt

New Delhi, May 31: Amid reports that three planes with insufficient fuel were diverted from Delhi to nearby airports due VIP flight movements, the Civil Aviation Ministry Monday said all these aircraft had much fuel to spare.

All the aircraft, which were diverted on May 26 following flight movements of President Pratibha Patil and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimunha-medov, carried sufficient fuel “as per laid down procedure of DGCA and their fuel requirement,” the Ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement.

It said the report has “created unnecessary panic amongst the public”.

The flights included those of the Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. A Kingfisher spokesperson too denied the report saying “none of our flights declared a fuel emergency on May 26 as wrongly reported”.