AAI issues notice to private airlines

Chennai: A cash-strapped Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued ‘cash and carry’ notices to a few private airlines whose credits have overshot their bank guarantees in a bid to meet its expenses.
While AAI is clueless about recovering its outstanding dues of Rs 600 crore from the public sector Air India, it has cracked the whip on private carriers after they accumulated dues on airport facility usage charges to the tune of Rs 9 crore, as against the bank guarantee of Rs 6.2 crore in the case of one airline and Rs 170 crore against a guarantee of Rs 100 crore in the case of another.
Both the airlines - their spokespersons deny having received the AAI ‘cash and carry’ notice - will now be allowed to operate from various airports in India only after paying the charges in advance, AAI sources said.
“All major airlines are given a credit facility against some minimum bank guarantee that they pledge for the money they owe to the airports for its operations. They can’t be cash-ready always, which is why we extend this facility to them. But when the dues exceed the bank guarantees the situation becomes serious. When we come across a situation like this over a period of time we issue the ‘cash and carry’ notice,” explained an AAI source in Delhi.
17/08/09 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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Categories: Airports Aug 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Aug 2009