Passengers had to pay £19k to fly home

Nearly 200 passengers on a flight to Birmingham Airport were delayed for three days and then told to pay a £19,700 landing tax fee during a fuel stop in Vienna.

Comtel Air's flight from India to Birmingham via Vienna finally arrived at 8pm last night. There were emotional scenes as the 180 passengers left the plane, with some people rowing with the crew and others running to loved ones.

But it is believed hundreds are still stranded in both India and Vienna as the airline struggles to fund flights back to the UK.

The people who touched down last night had been due to fly from Amritsar in India on Saturday but were told to leave the airport as they were major delays.

They eventually took off yesterday but, when they arrived for a scheduled fuel stop in Vienna, there were more hold-ups and staff told them they each had to pay around £150 cash to cover a 23,000 Euro landing tax.

Comtel Air is an Austrian-registered airline and not within the Civil Aviation Authority jurisdiction. It was unavailable for comment today. Anyone due to travel with the airline is advised to contact the travel firm they have booked with.

Birmingham Airport spokeswoman Justine Hunt said today: "We are very concerned about this situation and understand the distress this is causing. Comtel Air has been operating from Birmingham Airport to Amritsar since October, and has so far offered a successful operation. We are therefore very disappointed that the operator is having these problems and we are urgently investigating."

More reports in Wednesday's Express & Star.