DGCA deregisters 3 SpiceJet aircraft after Dubai-based lessor puts request with India's aviation watchdog

SpiceJet has already returned 12 old Boeing aircraft to lessors in the last calendar year, while the company has 13 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in fleet and the new inductions would begin from October 2022.

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The DGCA deregistered three SpiceJet aircraft on Thursday, five days after their lessor Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) asked the aviation regulator for it, sources said. Moreover, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is expected to deregister another SpiceJet aircraft on Friday, acceding to the request put forward by Irish lessor company Alterna aircraft on August 1, they added. DAE and Alterna had put in the Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorisation (IDERA) requests to deregister the aforementioned four planes.

The IDERA request is usually filed by a lessor when its negotiation with the airline regarding payment of dues fails. While SpiceJet did not issue any fresh statement on Thursday, it had issued a communique on the DAE's action earlier this week.

"SpiceJet plans to replace all its older Boeing aircraft with the new Max model in a phased manner. Between now and next calendar year, SpiceJet will induct around 20 new Max planes into its fleet. As part of this modernisation plan, we are returning older aircraft in a phased manner including these three aircraft," it had said.

These returns have been planned and will not have any impact on our operations, it had noted. "SpiceJet has already returned 12 old Boeing aircraft to lessors in the last calendar year. We have 13 Max aircraft in our fleet and the new inductions would begin from October 2022," the airline had said.

About Alterna's action, it had earlier this week said the aircraft is part of early termination agreement executed with the lessor way back in November 2021.

"The lessor has not provided documentation in the manner desired to SpiceJet to facilitate de-registration of the aircraft and has instead chosen to de-register on its own. This aircraft has already been removed from our fleet for over eight months and does not in any manner affect our operations or schedule," the airline had said.

SpiceJet has been making losses for the last four years. It incurred net losses of Rs 316 crore, Rs 934 crore and Rs 998 crore in 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. In the April-December period of 2021, the airline posted a net loss of Rs 1,248 crore. The airline is yet to declare results for January-March period of 2022.

The DGCA had on July 27 ordered SpiceJet to operate not more than 50 per cent of its flights, which were approved for summer schedule, for a period of eight weeks. On July 6, the aviation regulator had issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet following at least eight incidents of technical malfunction in its aircraft since June 19.