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3 Spicejet planes reclaimed by lessor over unpaid dues
On July 29, aircraft lessor AWAS Ireland Ltd wrote to the DGCA asking seeking action against SpiceJet and the de-registering of their aircraft due to non-payment of dues.
The aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday de-registered three SpiceJet aircraft after a plane leasing company wrote seeking action for unpaid dues. The jets, all Boeing 737s, will now be sent back to the leasing company.
On July 29, aircraft lessor AWAS Ireland Ltd wrote to the DGCA asking seeking action against SpiceJet and the de-registering of their aircraft due to non-payment of dues.
As is protocol, the DGCA issued a notice to the airline, in which the airline was given five working days to clear the dues. A DGCA official said: “The aircraft were de-registered on Thursday evening.”
The jets, with the tail numbers VT-SYW, VT-SYY and VT-SYX, are parked at Hyderabad airport as sought by the leasing company, the official added. The three jets were previously owned by Jet Airways and after the airline was grounded, SpiceJet leased them out in 2019.
Also read: SpiceJet to operate 50% of approved flights for 8 weeks following snags: DGCA
The airline, however, said that these returns were planned.
“As part of this modernisation plan, we are returning older aircraft in a phased manner including these three aircraft. These returns have been planned and will not have any impact on our operations,” an airline spokesperson said. “SpiceJet has already returned 12 old Boeing aircraft to lessors in the last calendar year. We have 13 [Boeing 737] MAX aircraft in our fleet and the new inductions will begin from October 2022,” he added, without referring to the payments issue.
“SpiceJet plans to replace all its older Boeing aircraft with the new Max model in a phased manner. Between now and next calendar year, SpiceJet will induct around 20 new Max planes into its fleet,” the spokesperson added.
Another Irish lessor, Alterna Aircraft VB Ltd, on Tuesday reclaimed its aircraft by writing to the DGCA.
Also read: Dubai-based SpiceJet lessor asks DGCA to de-register 3 planes
The DGCA officials told HT the fourth aircraft is also likely to be de-registered.
SpiceJet has been under the regulator’s radar after a series of incidents took place in the recent past. The DGCA has restricted its flights by 50% of its total approved flights for eight weeks.
SpiceJet planes were involved in at least eight technical malfunction incidents starting June 19 following which the DGCA had on July 6 issued a show-cause notice to the airline, stating that “poor internal safety oversight” and “inadequate maintenance actions” had resulted in degradation of safety margins. The regulator had also cited its financial problems for the capacity reduction.
