Kingfisher Airlines, Paramount Airways, Jet Airways, JetLite and SpiceJet owe about `357 crore to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), according to information provided by the AAI in response to an Right to Information (RTI) query.
Among the five airlines, Paramount and Kingfisher have ceased operations. As on March 31, Kingfisher’s dues to AAI amounted to Rs 175.30 crore, followed by Jet Airways with Rs 80.38 crore, SpiceJet with Rs 80.17 crore, JetLite with Rs 19.76 crore and Paramount with Rs 1.75 crore.
The AAI has said it’s taking action against Kingfisher and Paramount for collecting the dues. A Kingfisher spokesperson said, “We don’t comment on supplier and partner relationships.” For Jet Airways, JetLite and SpiceJet, the authority said it’s pursuing the cases with the airlines through “correspondence being pursued at airport/region/CHQ level for realisation of dues.”
The Airports Authority of India has said that airports concerned and its regional offices keep making efforts for the liquidation of dues, while in cases of some major domestic airlines, the matter was handled at the headquarters level.
Mails sent to Jet Airways, JetLite and SpiceJet seeking comments remained unanswered, while Paramount Airways could not be contacted, agencies said.
According to the policy of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, dues from privately-owned airlines are monitored on a regular basis and in case of delays, the Airports Authority of India issues notice asking them to settle the dues.
The Airports Authority of India also charges penal interest on delay in settlement of these dues. In cases where delay persists, besides encashing the security amount, the defaulting airlines are put on cash-and-carry basis.