Bombay Flying Club grounded for unpaid bills; 400 trainees hit

The Bombay Flying Club was shut on Saturday by the Airports Authority of India for non-payment of hangar maintenance charges, putting a question-mark on the future of 400 students enrolled with the club.

In a notice issued on Friday, the AAI had banned the entry of the club’s officials, students and staff to the Juhu airport, from where the club operates. The restrictions have crippled the club’s operations and not a single training sortee was made on Saturday.
The Bombay Flying Club is not the only flying school on the AAI’s radar. Similar notices have been issued to several other training facilities across the country and three more clubs — Indore, Surat and Vadodara — in the western region have been shut.
While the notice issued to the Bombay Flying Club, the oldest in the country, does not mention how much money the club owes to AAI, a source put the figure at Rs 2.2 crore.
The Bombay Flying Club president Captain Mihir Bhagvati termed the AAI move unfair and arbitrary. “The authorities should have thought of the students before issuing such an order,” he said.
01/04/12 Yogesh Naik/Mumbai Mirror