SpiceJet has defaulted in cash and carry payments to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for at least four days.
Airlines usually pay monthly fees to airport operators. Under the cash and carry mode, carriers have to pay on a daily basis to avail airport services for their flights.
two people told business Line That AAI had not received daily landing charges from SpiceJet for the last four days. The low-cost airline has been put on cash and carry for the past one year as it cannot pay the monthly fee. Since then it had to pay a daily fee to operate at AAI airports.
One of the sources said that AAI may take a decision by the end of this week whether to allow the airline to operate or not.
Bank guarantee
Meanwhile, in SpiceJet vs AAI case in Delhi High Court, the debt-ridden airline has been asked to withdraw an amount of ₹20 crore with the airport regulator to avoid encashment of its bank guarantee.
In October 2020, the company had dragged the airport authority to the Delhi High Court after the latter threatened to encash bank guarantees due to non-payment. In the said case, SpiceJet has been given several discounts, yet it is not able to pay the money.
AAI’s credit policy states that if the airline’s total outstanding exceeds 75 per cent of the bank guarantee provided by the airline, AAI can encash it.
Earlier this month, a single bench judge of the Delhi High Court had asked SpiceJet to pay ₹20 crore to avoid the said encashment.
The no-frills carrier owes ₹147 crore as principal and ₹78 crore as interest. AAI has only about ₹155 crore of bank guarantees.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet’s board has approved raising Rs 2,500 crore to meet its working capital requirements. The airline recently received Rs 127 crore under the government’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECGLS) scheme.
SpiceJet did not respond business Linequery of.
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