New Delhi: Budget carrier SpiceJet, which survived a shutdown late last year, has defaulted on payments to Airports Authority of India (AAI) towards landing, parking and route navigation charges, among others, and its total dues stand at Rs 155.49 crore, Government informed Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The (now defunct) Kingfisher Airlines also has dues amounting to Rs 294.57 crore to AAI and its bank guarantee amounting to Rs 100 crore was encashed, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma told Lok Sabha in reply to a question on private airlines' dues.
"M/s kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet are in default of payment and the dues are Rs 155.49 crore and Rs 294.57 crore respectively," Sharma said.
Besides, encashing the bank guarantee, "recovery suit (has been) filed in the Bombay High Court for recovery of the balance outstanding dues (of M/s Kingfisher Airlines) of the balance outstanding dues amounting to Rs 294.67 crore," he said.
"SpiceJet was put on daily remittance (cash-and-carry),"Sharma said. The Minister said that AAI has collected a total of Rs 6928.97 crore from the six private airlines (including the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines) between April 2012 and October2015 towards various charges as against total billing of Rs7011.30 crore during this period.
The AAI had collected Rs 45.36 crore and Rs 0.50 crorefrom (now defunct) Kingfisher Airlines in fiscal 2012-13 and fiscal 2013-14.He said AAI levies charges such as Route Navigation Facility Charges, Terminal Navigation and Landing Charges, Landing, parking, housing, counter, cargo, CUTE, space rent, licence fee, among others, uniformly from all airlines.
For timely recovery of dues, Sharma said, the AAI take sactions such as regular monitoring of dues, notices to airlines to settle dues in case of delay, charging penal interest on account of delay in settling dues and en-cashing of bank guarantee in case of default as well as putting the airline on cash-and-carry basis.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet in a statement said that there is no default in payment to AAI since January this year. "There is no default in payment to AAI since January2015. SpiceJet has been making regular payments to AAI as per agreed payment terms between SpiceJet and AAI," the airline said in the statement.
