DGCA De-Registers Two Aircraft Leased To SpiceJet On Dublin Lessors' Request

The two SpiceJet aircraft were de-registered on the request of two Dublin-based lessors Wilmington Trust SP Services and Aircastle.

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New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Thursday de-registered two Boeing 737s aircraft that were leased to SpiceJet under the provisions of Irrevocable De-registration and Export Request Authorisations (IDERA).

The two SpiceJet aircraft were de-registered on the request of two Dublin-based lessors Wilmington Trust SP Services and Aircastle.

“This won't impact our operations. One aircraft was grounded for a long period and was to be returned. The other one being returned due to engine issues. Both aircraft being returned consensually,” news agency ANI quoted a SpiceJet official as saying.

It is to be noted that the invocation of IDERA is a unilateral action by an aircraft lessor to de-register and repossess its aircraft from the lessee (in this case SpiceJet) in cases of defaults on payment of lease rentals. As per the rules, the DGCA must now deregister the plane within five working days.

Notably, this is not the first time that a lessor has invoked IDERA against the airline.

Last year, two overseas-based lessor, Alterna Aircraft VB and AWAS, a subsidiary of aircraft leasing company Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), had appealed to DGCA to de-register one SpiceJet plane each on alleged payment defaults by the airline.

SpiceJet had then said this was part of a plan to send back old flights as it gets new ones.

Last month, SpiceJet said it restructured over USD 100 million outstanding dues to aircraft leasing company Carlyle Aviation Partners into equity shares and compulsorily convertible debentures. The SpiceJet Board of Directors on February 27 approved issuing fresh equity shares of USD 29.5 million to Carlyle Aviation Partners at Rs 48 per share or the price determined by SEBI, whichever is higher, the company had said. After this transaction, Carlyle Aviation Partners will have over 7.5 per cent equity stake in SpiceJet. Moreover, the transaction will retire over USD 100 million debt of SpiceJet, thus, strengthening its balance sheet for future expansion.