Kolkata, Nov 26: The national airlines together owe around rs 20 crore to the city's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International airport. Of the total Rs 25.13 crore debt to the airport, the national airlines owed Rs 19.69 crore till the end of September 2003, according to figures available with the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Indian Airlines owed over Rs 14.93 crore followed by Alliance Air with Rs 3.99 crore. Air India and Vayudoot were also among the debtors.
The debts are mostly for landing and parking charges and the airport suffered a loss of about Rs five crore in the last fiscal.
Airlines which have closed their operations at the airport, such as the Union of Burma Airways and Iraqi Airways, also owe several lakhs of rupees as some foreign consulates and high commissions.
Thirteen scheduled foreign airlines also figure among the debtors. Airlines with court cases or which have gone for arbitration owed Rs 74.72 lakhs.
Bengal Air, a joint venture with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation that never took off, owed the airport authorities Rs 32.16 lakhs. Bengal Air's lone aircraft is still parked on the isolated bay since its arrival.
Several state and central government organisations, like customs, immigration and CPWD, as well as some public sector undertakings owed substantial amounts to the airport for using various facilities.
A senior AAI official here admitted that IA and AI were among the debtors and added that airlines often had to stagger their payments because of working capital problems. With an increase in the number of flights, both domestic and international, from Kolkata recently, the loss of the NSCBI airport is likely to go down substantially in the future, the official hoped.
Bureau Report