Ireland-based BOC Aviation and Wilmington Trust Services have filed a lawsuit against SpiceJet over Rs 200 crore of unpaid charges. Both companies claim that the airline failed to pay rents and other charges as per the lease agreements. The lawsuit has been filed before the Business and Property Courts at the High Court in London.
The case, according to MumbaiMirror, relates to three Boeing 737-800 aircraft leased from BOC Aviation in May 2019. three Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft leased from Wilmington Trust Services in Nov-December 2018. The airline had to pay US$220,000 per month for each of the three737-800 aircraft. BOC Aviation claims that the airline has been overdue in payments since August 2019. And as of September 3, 2020 SpiceJet has not paid rent to the tune of US$3,96,000 (Rs 29 crore). The outstanding amount is for the period April-September 2020. Wilmington Trust Services claims the airline hasn’t paid the monthly rent since April 2019. The overdue amount is a whopping US$19,485,334.29, which is about Rs 140 crore. Moreover, it also has to pay a supplemental rent of Rs 5.6 crore. Overall, the firm is claiming the amount of Rs 156 crore which is inclusive of interest.
And in 2019, many airline companies had grounded their Boeing aircrafts due to faults and software issues. And news of potentially faulty wing parts in Boeing 737 had prompted airline companies to stop and think. SpiceJet and BOC Aviation business relations go back to 2013. The lawsuit comes at a time when the global aviation industry is collapsing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Cirium, a travel data company, 43 commercial airlines have already folded so far this year as air travel reels from the hardest hit in its history. And some 485 planes have been idled due to airline failures. As such airlines, the worldover, are trying to ensure their survival by cutting costs, including by mass layoffs, delay of new aircraft purchases, and dropping routes.
