NEW DELHI: Even as flyers angrily vent their ire on social media over frequent cancellations and long delays of Spicejet flights at airports across the country, a solid reason for the cancellation of flights on and off have now emerged. The airline’s inability to pay the mandatory charges for flights to use airports have created a situation that they are not permitted to carry out their operations by airport authorities, said multiple sources.
Meanwhile, troubles continued to mount for the financially crippled airline as the Indian Association of Tour Operators reached out to Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Tuesday seeking his help. The frequent cancellation of Spicejet flights to Sri Vijayapuram airport (earlier Port Blair) was impacting tourism in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the association said in a letter.
A senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) official told this reporter that Airport charges involve the services used by a plane at an airport. It covers Route Navigation service and Terminal Navigation Landing Charges at any airport. The amount charged per aircraft depends on the weight of the aircraft and the distance travelled, he added.
Spicejet has been permitted a `Cash and Carry’ model to pay these charges by the Civil Aviation Ministry for quite some time due to their financial situation, explained an airport source. “While other airlines pay the charges once in a month or quarter or even annually and are given a 45-day or 60-day credit period to pay their dues, Spicejet must mandatorily pay the charge upfront and on a per aircraft basis. This was because of the arrears pertaining to airport charge running to many months at some airports,” he explained.
“If the charges are paid for a flight, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) permits the journey. If not, they cancel it. This `Pay First and Fly Later’ method adopted has impacted it badly, the source added.
Another source alleged, “The airline has not paid salaries for nearly four months now. The attrition rate is quite high due to this. The shortage of crew too is posing a huge problem.” On September 19, four flights could not take-off from Delhi airport as the staff refused to turn up for work due to non-payment of their dues.
A source at Delhi airport confirmed the `Cash and Carry’ system in place. “For instance, if Spicejet is able to pay airport charge only for three out of five flights it is supposed to operate on a given day, we do not give clearance for the other two flights. The airline still owes us a good amount in arrears,” he said.
A Mumbai airport source said its arrears have been settled by the airline. “They adopt the Cash and Carry mode presently at our airport,”he said.
A government source said the airline was unable to pay even the Passenger Service Fee collected from passengers towards facilities like toilets and drinking water provided for passengers at the airport and towards payment for the security forces deployed.
A source alleged that only 12 out of 60 aircraft of Spicejet were operational as on Wednesday. This matter could not be verified.
Despite its response being sought multiple times by this reporter, Spicejet said it was unwilling to comment on any of the issues.
