TEHRAN: The Iranian authorities refused to fuel the aircraft of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his visit to Tehran last month to make the state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) clear its dues amounting to just over $5,000, Indian media reported on Wednesday.
“The Iranian airport authorities had refused to fuel the Pakistan PM’s aircraft at the Tehran airport on May 12 and warned it would not release the plane until the PIA cleared the outstanding payment,” a senior PIA official told the India’s premier news agency, PTI.
“The Iran Air officials responsible for handling the VVIP flight showed their annoyance over the PIA failure in clearing the pending invoice of PK-788 despite the passage of four months,” the official said.
The warning alerted the PIA bosses who directed its official in Tehran to clear the amount forthwith and save Pakistan from the embarrassment. The PIA managed to hide the issue from the foreign office and the prime minister.
However, the PIA spokesman Mashhood Tajwar denied the prime minister’s aircraft was held at Tehran airport over payment issue.
“We had already made the outstanding payment of USD 5,646,” he said.
