Delhi High Court orders aviation regulator to de-register co's six planes following a petition by two Irish aircraft leasing firms
Flyers of budget airline SpiceJet Ltd are again facing the prospect of flight cancellations with the Delhi High Court ordering the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to de-register six of its 32 aircraft on Thursday.
Industry experts, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said if the court order is followed then 40-45 flights of the no-frill airline could be cancelled on both domestic and international sectors. He said normally a plane did 7-8 landings per aircraft per day.
The high court order was passed on the petition filed by two Irish aircraft leasing firms - AWAS Ireland Ltd and Wilmington Trust SP Services (Dublin) Ltd – which took control of their six Boeing 737s because of non-payment of dues by SpiceJet.
"It is a big blow to the airline (SpiceJet). The lessors had approached the court because they were not being allowed to take back the aircraft by the DGCA. With this order, the DGCA has no other option but to allow them take control of their planes. Now, it is only up to lessors on how much time they will give SpiceJet to return the planes," he said.
The aviation regulator has been given two weeks by the court to take a decision on the Irish firms' plea to export the planes.
A civil aviation ministry spokesperson said the DGCA will study the court judgement and act accordingly.
"They'll (DGCA) now get the judgment and comply with whatever the high court is saying within the limit frame given by it," he said.
A SpiceJet spokesperson said the airline was reviewing the court order and trying to work out an amicable settlement with lessors.
"Right now, our senior officials are at the DGCA trying to work out a solution with the lessors. We should be able to pull out of this without getting badly hurt," he said.
At the same time, the SpiceJet spokesperson said the low-fare carrier also had the option to appeal in the higher court. This option, he said, was not a preferable one but would be taken as a last resort.
The budget airline's problem could further aggravate with one more case filed by a third lessor for return of five Boeings pending in the court. The high court had reportedly earlier reserved its order in a separate plea by another lessor seeking de-registration of five planes.
The airline currently has a fleet of 32 aircraft – 17 Boeing and 15 Q4 – and if 11 Boeings are returned it will be left with just 21 aircraft. Recently, the airline had paid Rs 60 crore to one of its lessors. It owes Rs 700 crore to its lessors.
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