New Delhi, Mar 27 : Aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday said it has deregistered 15 aircraft of Kingfisher Airlines to enable global leasing companies to take them back on grounds of default on their lease rentals by the grounded carrier.
This was announced by Director General Civil Aviation Arun Mishra, who said he would soon discuss the issues concerning Kingfisher's dues to tax authorities, airport operators and other vendors.
The airport operators, particularly the Airports Authority of India, had seized several aircraft of the liqour baron Vijay Mallya-owned carrier and decided not to release them till Kingfisher clears their dues.
However, some leasing companies including German aviation bank DVB moved the Delhi High Court which ordered that the lessors had a right over these aircraft.
Following the decision, aircraft lessor International Lease Finance Corp said it had successfully removed one of six Kingfisher aircraft — an Airbus A-321, stranded in India.
A demand for deregistration of two more Kingfisher planes was made by DVB at a meeting with aviation regulator DGCA in New Delhi on Monday.
The two planes had been sent to Turkey for repairs and maintenance where DVB seized them. However, unless the planes were deregistered in the lessor country, the German Bank cannot reclaim them and lease or sell them to other carriers.
Kingfisher has ten planes of its own and another 15 leased ones which are yet to be deregistered, AAI Chairman V.P. Aggarwal said on the sidelines of a CII function on aviation.
The dispute over Kingfisher's leased planes is seen as a major test of the Cape Town convention, a global treaty to standardise transactions involving moveable property like aircraft, including contracts of sale and leases. It provides legal remedies for default in financing agreements, including repossession and the effect of bankruptcy laws.
