AirAsia India pays all debts to airport operator

AirAsia India (I5, Bangalore Int’l) has paid its debts for air navigation, landing and parking fees, and other tariffs to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which under the ownership of the country’s Ministry of Civil Aviation operates more than 100 airports, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

AirAsia India, which is currently 84% controlled by Tata Sons – now in the process of acquiring flag carrier Air India (AI, Mumbai Int’l) – and 16% by AirAsia Group’s AirAsia Investment Limited, said on December 29 that it had paid all its dues to the airport operator and that it was aligning all payments as per credit terms on due dates effective from September 2021.

AirAsia India’s debts to the AAI had doubled in the last two years, from INR14.7 million rupees (USD197,000) in January 2020 to INR35.8 million (USD480,000) by October 2021, the news agency said quoting internal AAI documents.

“We have now paid all our dues according to the contract with AAI. We are making all payments as per credit terms on due dates from September, and there are no dues after that date,” an AirAsia India spokesperson confirmed to the Press Trust of India on December 29.

“Since September, we have paid out INR590 million (USD7.91 million) by the due dates as per the policy of the airports authority,” the spokesperson added.

As previously reported, as of the end of September, airlines in India owed payments to the AAI totalling INR24 billion (USD322 million) due to losses sustained while travel demand remained low from the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Of these, AirAsia India reportedly owed INR216 million (USD2.9 million). Other Indian carriers owed the remainder, including IndiGo Airlines, SpiceJet, GoAir, Air India, and Vistara.