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ALL Air Scotland flights were in chaos yesterday, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded three days after a dispute over its failure to pay for fuel was resolved.
BAA, the airports' operator, said there were delays of at least 12 hours for all flights connected with Air Scotland while some passengers told of their anger at the company's failure to explain what was happening.
Flights yesterday from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Athens, Paris, Malaga and Alicante were all affected.
The fiasco began when two planes were grounded on Thursday and Friday last week in a row over unpaid fuel bills.
The hold-up was caused by confusion over who was responsible for paying for the fuel. BAA eventually allowed the aircraft to fly as a gesture of good faith before the company finally paid the six-figure sum.
The Civil Aviation Authority, the airline regulator, revealed yesterday that it was powerless to become involved in the financial dispute because Air Scotland's parent company is based in Greece.
The cash crisis at the airline started on Thursday when the Iraqi-born founder of Air Scotland and sole shareholder of the parent company, Greece Airways, Dhia Al-Ani from Bearsden, sold his 44,000 shares in the airline to the Barcelona-based H Top Hotels Group.
While the airline was launched in a blaze of tartan and Mr Al-Ani talked of creating 300 jobs and millions of pounds for the Scots economy, it emerged that Air Scotland is effectively the sales and administration wing of the Greek airline.
At Spain's Palma airport on Saturday, armed police had to be called to calm a crowd of furious Scots after Air Scotland's Glasgow-bound plane was affected by a 17-hour delay.
Yesterday at 2.21pm after a delay of 14 hours, passengers finally left Glasgow airport on a flight to Malaga. The flight which was due to leave at 10.20pm on Sunday, had been rescheduled for noon yesterday.
Consequently, a further 200 passengers were stranded in Malaga waiting for the flight back to Glasgow which was due in at 5.40am yesterday. It still had no scheduled time of arrival 12 hours later.
Barry McFadyen, a 24-year-old administrative officer from Stirling, who was due to fly out to meet friends in Malaga, attempted to sleep on a Glasgow airport bench after trying in vain to obtain news of the flight's departure.
He said: "The situation here was worse than shambolic. Nobody seems to answer the phones at Air Scotland and I have spent a very uncomfortable night. Suffice to say I never slept and it is fair to say this is the last time I will fly with them."
A spokeswoman for BAA, which runs Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, said it had had to field many calls regarding the flight problems because people had had great difficulty in contacting Air Scotland, which she said had settled all its fuel bills.
She added: "We've been bending over backwards to help out the passengers of Air Scotland which is not our obligation at all.
"We have provided them with food, drink and blankets. The delays are so bad that it's hard to keep track. These delays are not caused by BAA or any operational problem."
No-one at Air Scotland or Greece Airways would comment on why the delays were continuing. A spokeswoman for Air Scotland would only say: "We apologise unreservedly to all passengers."
ALL Air Scotland flights were in chaos yesterday, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded three days after a dispute over its failure to pay for fuel was resolved.
BAA, the airports' operator, said there were delays of at least 12 hours for all flights connected with Air Scotland while some passengers told of their anger at the company's failure to explain what was happening.
Flights yesterday from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Athens, Paris, Malaga and Alicante were all affected.
The fiasco began when two planes were grounded on Thursday and Friday last week in a row over unpaid fuel bills.
The hold-up was caused by confusion over who was responsible for paying for the fuel. BAA eventually allowed the aircraft to fly as a gesture of good faith before the company finally paid the six-figure sum.
The Civil Aviation Authority, the airline regulator, revealed yesterday that it was powerless to become involved in the financial dispute because Air Scotland's parent company is based in Greece.
The cash crisis at the airline started on Thursday when the Iraqi-born founder of Air Scotland and sole shareholder of the parent company, Greece Airways, Dhia Al-Ani from Bearsden, sold his 44,000 shares in the airline to the Barcelona-based H Top Hotels Group.
While the airline was launched in a blaze of tartan and Mr Al-Ani talked of creating 300 jobs and millions of pounds for the Scots economy, it emerged that Air Scotland is effectively the sales and administration wing of the Greek airline.
At Spain's Palma airport on Saturday, armed police had to be called to calm a crowd of furious Scots after Air Scotland's Glasgow-bound plane was affected by a 17-hour delay.
Yesterday at 2.21pm after a delay of 14 hours, passengers finally left Glasgow airport on a flight to Malaga. The flight which was due to leave at 10.20pm on Sunday, had been rescheduled for noon yesterday.
Consequently, a further 200 passengers were stranded in Malaga waiting for the flight back to Glasgow which was due in at 5.40am yesterday. It still had no scheduled time of arrival 12 hours later.
Barry McFadyen, a 24-year-old administrative officer from Stirling, who was due to fly out to meet friends in Malaga, attempted to sleep on a Glasgow airport bench after trying in vain to obtain news of the flight's departure.
He said: "The situation here was worse than shambolic. Nobody seems to answer the phones at Air Scotland and I have spent a very uncomfortable night. Suffice to say I never slept and it is fair to say this is the last time I will fly with them."
A spokeswoman for BAA, which runs Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, said it had had to field many calls regarding the flight problems because people had had great difficulty in contacting Air Scotland, which she said had settled all its fuel bills.
She added: "We've been bending over backwards to help out the passengers of Air Scotland which is not our obligation at all.
"We have provided them with food, drink and blankets. The delays are so bad that it's hard to keep track. These delays are not caused by BAA or any operational problem."
No-one at Air Scotland or Greece Airways would comment on why the delays were continuing. A spokeswoman for Air Scotland would only say: "We apologise unreservedly to all passengers."
ALL Air Scotland flights were in chaos yesterday, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded three days after a dispute over its failure to pay for fuel was resolved.
BAA, the airports' operator, said there were delays of at least 12 hours for all flights connected with Air Scotland while some passengers told of their anger at the company's failure to explain what was happening.
Flights yesterday from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Athens, Paris, Malaga and Alicante were all affected.
The fiasco began when two planes were grounded on Thursday and Friday last week in a row over unpaid fuel bills.
The hold-up was caused by confusion over who was responsible for paying for the fuel. BAA eventually allowed the aircraft to fly as a gesture of good faith before the company finally paid the six-figure sum.
The Civil Aviation Authority, the airline regulator, revealed yesterday that it was powerless to become involved in the financial dispute because Air Scotland's parent company is based in Greece.
The cash crisis at the airline started on Thursday when the Iraqi-born founder of Air Scotland and sole shareholder of the parent company, Greece Airways, Dhia Al-Ani from Bearsden, sold his 44,000 shares in the airline to the Barcelona-based H Top Hotels Group.
While the airline was launched in a blaze of tartan and Mr Al-Ani talked of creating 300 jobs and millions of pounds for the Scots economy, it emerged that Air Scotland is effectively the sales and administration wing of the Greek airline.
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