Aircraft leasing company Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has applied to deregister two ATR72-600 leased to TruJet for non-payment of dues, said sources.

“DAE got two ATR72-600 deregistered due to default in payment of dues by TruJet. DAE submitted an IDERA (irrevocable deregistration and export request authorisation) to DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) earlier this week,” a source said.

Both TruJet and DAE did not respond to BusinessLine’s queries.

Management rejig

Earlier this year, Megha Engineering & Infrastructures resold TruJet back to its erstwhile owner Vankayalapati Umesh for an undisclosed amount. Umesh took over as the Managing Director on October 9 even as most of the board resigned. There has since been no clarity on the dynamics of how the company has been running since then.

Sources said that employees weren’t paid for months.

Funding woes

Umesh, in a letter to TruJet employees, had said that the company was in conversation with Elix for funding. However, multiple people in the know said not much headway could be made.

Prior to this, the founder of Interups Laxmi Prasad was said to be investing in the company.

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But after months of back and forth, he was asked to leave the company’s group and was struck off all emails for not investing in the company.

In October, TruJet carried 19,000 passengers compared to 15,000 in September and 27,000 in August.

People in the know also said that now, TruJet has AOC (Air Operator Certificate) for five aircraft. One was scrapped and of four, only one is flying. “The rest are not flying due to funding constraints,” they said.

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