AWAS, a subsidiary of Gulf-based lessor Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), has appealed to India’s aviation regulator to deregister three Boeing aircraft leased to low fare .ET has seen copies of the Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorization (IDERA) the lessor filed with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
A person close to the development said the lessor requested the de-registration of planes on issues of lease rental payments from SpiceJet to AWAS.
The IDERA requests are on three Boeing 737-800 planes. The regulator has to slap the notices on SpiceJet within 5 days. The cash-strapped low fare carrier has been struggling with payments to vendors, lessors and suppliers.
The airline’s flights have also had frequent safety snags in the last two months. The DGCA issued a show cause notice to the airline recently and probed the incidents. This was followed by a mandate that SpiceJet can only operate 50% of the flights approved for the summer schedule. The airline said its flights won’t be impacted as it already has curtailed its capacity by half.
Previously, SpiceJet has been in disputes with aircraft company De Havilland for Bombardier Q400 planes and lessor Avolon for Boeing planes.
