THE TRAVEL plans of hundreds of Scottish air passengers were thrown into chaos today after a transatlantic low-fare airline had one of its planes detained by UK authorities over the non-payment of charges.
Glasgow airport said it had been instructed by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority to detain a Canada-bound Boeing 757 operated by Zoom Airlines. The Canadian airline operates routes from Glasgow to five of Canada's cities, offering Scots direct flight
s to North America.
BAA Glasgow said the matter concerned the non-payment of charges to European air traffic control company Eurocontrol and to the UK's air traffic control company Nats.
BAA said it had also imposed a detention order in respect of charges owed to BAA Glasgow but that this order had now been lifted.
The detained flight had been due to leave for the Canadian cities of Halifax and Ottawa at 10.55am today.
BAA said another Zoom flight, which should have left for Vancouver at 12.40pm today, had also been delayed.
BAA added: "Discussions are under way to resolve the matter. Until then, the departing aircraft (travelling to Halifax and Ottawa) is subject to delay until further notice. A later flight to Vancouver...is also delayed.
"BAA is working with Zoom Airlines to provide support and advice for passengers. Passengers intending to fly with Zoom Airlines should check the status of their flight with the airline.
Today's problems follow the grounding of a Zoom flight from Paris at Calgary airport in Canada yesterday.
A Zoom spokesman said today that the Calgary incident, in which around 70 passengers were flown on to Vancouver with another airline, had involved "issues" with the company from whom Zoom was leasing the plane.
Calgary airport officials were quoted as saying that Zoom owed money to the airport and to the leasing company, adding that the company had terminated its lease with Zoom.
Zoom flies from Glasgow, Gatwick, Manchester, Cardiff and Belfast airports as well as from European airports to a number of North American destinations.
The full article contains 345 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
