SpiceJet claims to have paid $10 million to three lessors from whom the airline had taken six Boeing 737 aircraft on lease.

Sources told BusinessLine that with the payment on Monday, the airline does not have any outstanding with these three leasing companies.

The names of the three leasing companies whose dues were cleared were not immediately available although sources said that the decision to pay the leasing companies was taken as they had stood with the airline through its good and bad times.

The payment comes close on the heels of the Delhi High Court’s decision that reserved its order on February 9 on an Ireland-based leasing company, B&B Air Acquisition’s, plea to ground five Boeing 737 aircraft leased by it to SpiceJet till their registration was cancelled by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

The case is expected to come up again on Tuesday. The cancellation of the aircraft will mean that SpiceJet will not be able to operate these aircraft and the planes will be taken back by the leasing company.

The airline, which owed ₹1,600 crore to debtors on December 5 last year, has seen over ₹500 crore being pumped into the company, since the entire 58.46 per cent holding of Kalanithi Maran and Kal Airways Private Ltd in SpiceJet was transferred to Ajay Singh on February 24. Singh is a former promoter and now owner of SpiceJet who is putting together a team to invest up to $ 200 million in the cash starved airline.

Since Singh took over the airline, the funds that he has brought in have been used to pay wage arrears, statutory dues such as service tax  and tax deducted at source. Singh told Business Line that statutory dues of  ₹40 crore and TDS dues of ₹100 crore had been settled.

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