SpiceJet will appeal to a higher judicial forum against the Delhi High Court’s Thursday order asking the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation to deregister six aircraft leased to the carrier by two Irish companies.
PTI reported that Justice Rajiv Shakdher, while issuing the direction to the DGCA, said that the aviation regulator will decide in two weeks the Irish firms’ plea to take back the planes, a majority of which are Boeing 737 aircraft.
The judgment came on the pleas of AWAS Ireland and Wilmington Trust SP Services (Dublin) which had moved the Court seeking directions to the DGCA to deregister the aircraft for which the airline had allegedly not paid dues.
“We are studying the order… we will take the matter to the higher judicial forum. Dialogues are on to settle the dispute amicably,” an airline spokesperson told newspersons.
Terming the court order on “expected lines”, Kapil Kaul, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, said he expects the airline’s new management to have already factored this in their plans.
Could hit services An aircraft has to be registered with the DGCA before it can fly. If an aircraft is deregistered, then an airline cannot use it for regular commercial flights. The court’s order could thus impact the normal services of SpiceJet and affect passengers booked on its flights.
The DGCA will give these six aircraft temporary registration numbers which will allow the leasing companies to fly them out of the country if they so want.
Analysts feel that if the aircraft go back, it will lead to a daily revenue loss of ₹ 1-2 crore to the airline. SpiceJet has a fleet of 17 Boeing 737s and 15 Q400s.
Sources in the airline, however, expressed confidence that they will be able to set right the issue and that daily flight operations will not be affected. The airline currently operates 210 weekly flights and plans to enhance these to 280 daily services by the end of the month when the summer schedule starts.
Travel agents wary Travel agents are, however, wary of selling SpiceJet tickets and are waiting for more clarity. They fear that a reduced fleet could mean last-minute cancellations.