Four years after the scheduled operations of Kingfisher came to an end and the Air Operator Permit had lapsed, seven aircraft of the airline remain at the Chennai airport.
Airport director Deepak Shastri said, “The dues of Kingfisher so far with Chennai airport alone is about Rs. 10 crore. But we cannot take a decision on what can be done with the aircraft here, to recover the dues. The headquarters in New Delhi only can take a decision.”
The dues include payment for various facilities over the years including parking, landing and usage of hanger charges, sources said. But the dues of Kingfisher to Airports Authority of India (AAI) for availing various facilities stand at Rs. 294.57 crore, including interest.
Sources with AAI said that of the seven aircraft, three belonged to Kingfisher and the remaining four were leased from private companies. The four leased aircraft were deregistered by the respective companies with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), sources added.
“But the companies are yet to take possession of them since there some issues are involved,” a source said.
Three years ago, the Ministry for Civil Aviation announced its decision to withdraw the International Bilateral Traffic Rights given to the airline between 2008 and 2011. When the airline started operations in Chennai way back in 2008, it used to operate 60 flights a day from the city. But in 2012 itself, the operations came down to 45 before the operations stopped completely.
The beleaguered airline owes
the Chennai airport about
Rs. 10 crore
