Dues ground evacuation flight on aircraft being returned to European lessor

NEW DELHI: An evacuation flight supposed to fly back about 100 Europeans to Bulgaria could not take off from Delhi Airport early on Thursday morning because of statutory dues towards the aircraft to Indian authorities. Budget carrier SpiceJet had taken a couple of Airbus A320s on lease from Bulgarian lessor BH Air. With the corona pandemic grinding travel to a halt, the cash-strapped private airline decided to return the aircraft to its European lessor.
“Bulgaria had arranged to fly back some of its citizens from India on this aircraft on Thursday. Boarding for the same was completed. The aircraft had some statutory dues that needed to be cleared. There is a dispute between who will pay the dues, the lessor or SpiceJet. With the same not being cleared, the aircraft was not allowed to take off on Thursday. All attempts are being made to resolve this issue so that the aircraft can take off with citizens of the European country with whom India has very good ties,” said sources.