DGCA de-registers 2 more SpiceJet aircraft for non-payment of dues to lessor
NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday de-registered two SpiceJet aircraft after the airline failed to clear its dues to Irish lessor Horizon Aviation, the third lessor in one month to put in an Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorisation (IDERA) to deregister the airline’s B737 aircraft.“Boeing 737-800 aircraft registered as VT- SPU and Boeing 737-900ER aircraft registered as VT-SGQ of SpiceJet have been deregistered under IDERA on Wednesday,” a DGCA official said.A lessor files IDERA when the airline fails to pay aircraft dues.The aviation regulator gave SpiceJet to clear the dues within five days after Horizon Aviation requested the regulator to deregister two B737 aircraft on August 25.Earlier, DGCA de-registered three aircraft on August 4 after the lessor, AWAS Ireland Ltd, requested action against SpiceJet due to non-payment of the dues. The three aircraft with registration numbers VT-SYW, VT-SYY and VT-SYX were previously owned by Jet Airways.Another SpiceJet B737 was de-registered the following day on a request by an Irish lessor, Alterna Aircraft V B Ltd.SpiceJet chairman and managing director (CMD) Ajay Singh on Wednesday said that the airline has 60 aircraft in operation and will add at least seven new Boeing 737 Max aircraft to its fleet by end of the yearSpiceJet has been under the regulator’s radar after a series of incidents took place in the recent past. DGCA has restricted its flights by 50% of its total approved flights for eight weeks.SpiceJet planes were involved in at least eight technical malfunction incidents starting June 19 following which the DGCA on July 6 issued a show-cause notice to the airline, stating that “poor internal safety oversight” and “inadequate maintenance actions” resulted in degradation of safety margins. The regulator also cited its financial problems for capacity reduction.
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