Cash-strapped
Jet Airways has defaulted on payment of over Rs 100 crore as airport fees and has requested the civil aviation ministry and the
Airports Authority of India (AAI) to extend the deadline payment to March 31, 2014.
The Naresh Goyal-led airline has written to the ministry and the AAI to also relax the one- month additional security deposit of Rs 60 crore for defaulting on payment for availing airport services.
AAI had warned Jet in August to keep its dues within the bank guarantee limit or otherwise it would be refused credit.
SpiceJet has already been put on a cashand- carry basis from August 30 after its dues surpassed the limit of its bank guarantee.
Jet's spokesperson said, " We have requested the government that the security deposit should continue to be at one month average billings sighting current economic scenario namely the devaluation of the rupee versus the US dollar, steep increase in landing and navigation charges at key metros and high fuel prices." The airline, however, claims that " this is in no way a reflection of airline's financial position." Jet, which is in the process of securing approval to enlist Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways as a significant minority investor, reported a net loss of Rs 355 crore for the April- June quarter of this fiscal as against net profit of Rs 24.7 crore in the year- ago period. Revenue for the quarter declined 12.4 per cent to Rs 4,064 crore from Rs 4,636 crore in the same quarter last year.
The denial of credit by AAI has an adverse impact on airlines as they have to pay in hard cash for air traffic services across domestic airports, including the private metro ones.
The AAI also charges penal interest on delay in settlement of these bills. In cases where delay persists, the security amount is encashed and the defaulting airlines is put on a cash- and- carry basis.
AAI's dues have been mounting with the airlines getting impacted by the economic slowdown. As on March 31, state- run Air India and its subsidiaries owed Rs 1,539.75 crore to AAI while Jet owed Rs 100.16 crore, SpiceJet Rs 80.17 crore, IndiGo Rs 2.89crore, GoAir Rs 8.71 crore while defunct Kingfisher Airlines, led by Vijay Mallya, owed Rs 186.26 crore to AAI.
Courtesy: Mail Today
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