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Informist, Thursday, May 21, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Lessor Sunbird France 02 SAS Thursday moved the Delhi High Court, seeking enforcement of a High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts of England and Wales Commercial Court's March award asking SpiceJet Ltd. to pay $8 million as rentals and maintenance dues for leasing three aircraft engines. The high court will decide on Monday whether SpiceJet has to file an affidavit disclosing its assets for paying the lessor. 

 

SpiceJet contested Sunbird France's petition and said that the same was not maintainable. The power of attorney was not stamped by the lessor in the case and the stamp duty was not paid by it under the Indian Stamp Act, said SpiceJet. Opposing any immediate order on disclosure of assets, SpiceJet said that it was a running airline and not a fly-by-night operator. Any coercive steps by the high court regarding engines would disrupt the airline, said SpiceJet. The airline operates around 135 flights daily, carries nearly 21,000 passengers a day and employs about 6,400 people, said SpiceJet.

 

If an order is passed for declaring assets, a similar approach will be taken up in other courts, said SpiceJet, adding that every lessor will seek the same prayer. An airline cannot run in that fashion, said SpiceJet.

 

The lessor said that despite not paying dues to Sunbird and other lessors, the airline has paid advance salary to its Chairman Ajay Singh. "The chairperson, Mr. Singh, is paid $3.4 million in advance by way of salary for five years in September 2025, when monies are owed to the world at large," said the lessor. 

 

The case has its genesis from Sunbird France leasing three aircraft engines to SpiceJet in 2019. SpiceJet's obligation was to pay rent, maintenance accruals and any other amount, and that obligation was said to be absolute and unconditional, irrespective of any contingency whatsoever, according to the lease agreement between the parties. After non-payment of the rent and the maintenance accruals for the engines, Sunbird France moved the England court seeking a summary judgment. Asking Spicejet to pay, the England court in March said that the airline had no real prospect of successfully defending the rent and maintenance accruals claims, or interest thereon.

 

At 1354 IST, shares of SpiceJet Ltd. traded 0.1% lower at INR 12.91 on the BSE.  End

 

US$1 = INR 96.37

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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