NEW DELHI: All SpiceJet flights from Dubai International Airport to India were cancelled on Friday over pending payments to the airport's service provider. Only two of the airline's six flights were permitted to operate on Thursday, while no SpiceJet flight took off for India on Friday.
Check-in counters were not allocated to SpiceJet flights on Friday by DNATA, the airport's service provider.
"Dubai airport had informed SpiceJet earlier this week that check-in services for passengers and baggage would not be carried out from November 12 unless the dues were cleared," a source said. DNATA had not been paid its service dues since mid-October, and the amount had accumulated to roughly Rs 35 crore, the source alleged. This figure could not be officially confirmed by either the airport or SpiceJet.
Dubai is the only international destination served by SpiceJet. The airline used to operate 75 flights per week a few months ago, but its operations have halved over the past few weeks. Daily operations dwindled to six flights due to the operational and financial constraints faced by the airline, an airline source confirmed. Until Wednesday (November 11), the airline operated one daily flight each to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Amritsar, and two to Delhi from Dubai.
The Dubai airport station manager had also summoned SpiceJet's Flight Operations team on Thursday (November 12) and asked the airline to officially announce the cancellation of its flights to passengers, internal emails seen by the TNIE reveal. The airport had also asked the airline to provide alternative travel arrangements and accommodation for stranded passengers.
Asked for its response on the pending dues, a SpiceJet spokesperson said:
“We are in the process of resolving the matter with the concerned authorities. We have adequate bank guarantee cover in place and are working to ensure that the issue is sorted out at the earliest.”
The airline declined to share further specifics.
A response to an email sent to Dubai Airport is awaited.
The TNIE had reported a couple of days ago that airports in India were not giving clearance for several SpiceJet flights due to non-payment of airport fees. The airline was paying charges before each flight to operate them under the 'Cash and Carry' model.