India’s major Airlines’ Dues To AAI More Than Doubled In Feb-July Period

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According to a recent official report, dues of four major domestic airlines — IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, and AirAsia India — to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have more than doubled between February and July amid the coronavirus pandemic.

  • The domestic airline that owes the highest fees to the AAI is Air India.
  • The national carrier’s fees to the AAI rose 2.75 percent to 2,258.27 rupees during that period, officials found.

An airline needs to pay various fees such as air traffic control, landing, parking, etc. to the AAI in order to use facilities at any of its more than 100 airports. Both Air India and the AAI operate under the Department of Civil Aviation.

India has six major domestic airlines, IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, AirAsia India, Air India and Vistara, which owed the AAI a total of 2562.04 rupees as of Aug. 1, up around 10 percent from Feb. 1 officials said PTI .

GoAir’s fees to the AAI rose from 16.91 crore on February 1 to 52.18 crore on August 1, officials said.

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On August 10th, GoAir was put into cash and carry mode by the AAI at its airports for not paying fees.

Air India’s fees to the AAI were 2,197.6 crore on February 1 and rose to 2,258.27 crore on August 1, officials found.

On July 8, AAI put Air India into Cash & Carry mode at airports in Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai and Kolkata for non-payment of fees.

AirAsia India’s AAI fees increased from 0.96 crore on February 1st to 18.89 crore on August 1st.

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Vistara is just one of the six major domestic airlines whose AAI fees fell from February to July. His fees were 5.72 crore on February 1 and fell to 4.31 crore on August 1, officials said. Both AirAsia India and Vistara have the Tata Group as the majority shareholder.

Air India, IndiGo and Vistara did not respond.

The aviation sector is hard hit due to travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the six major domestic air carriers have taken various cost-cutting measures such as wage cuts, layoffs and unpaid leave in the past few months.

SpiceJet, India’s second-largest airline, had charges of Rs 65.35 billion to the AAI on February 1, increasing to Rs 132.4 billion by August 1.

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Manish Khandelwal
Manish Khandelwal

Manish Khandelwal, a travel-tech enthusiast with over a decade of experience in the travel industry. Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Travelobiz.com, he's passionate about writing.

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