SpiceJet Clears All Its Pending Dues With Airports Authority Of India

Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet Ltd said on Tuesday it had cleared all its outstanding principal dues with the state-run airport operator Airports Authority of India (AAI), sending its shares up nearly 5 per cent.

The airline will revert to advance payment mechanism for its daily operations, and AAI will release a 500 million rupees ($6.33 million) bank guarantee, the company added.

The airline has been under the spotlight lately after a slew of incidents of technical snags on its flights and one of its Dubai-based lessors asked the regulator to deregister three of SpiceJet's planes.

Adding to its troubles, the aviation regulator last week ordered the airline to slash its approved fleet to 50% this summer for eight weeks citing safety snags. The airline said on Monday its flight operations remained normal.