Kingfisher owes 40 percent of airline dues to Airport Authority

Virtually all domestic airlines owe money to the state-run Airports Authority of India. But Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines, now inoperational, accounts for over 40 percent of that amount, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

As per details provided by Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju Pusapati, the total dues of the Airports Authority is Rs.710.14 crore. Of that, Rs.294.57 crore is owed by Kingfisher. Next on the list is IndiGo with Rs.71.81 crore, GoAir (Rs.64.09 crore) and SpiceJet (Rs.63.28 crore).

In the case of Kingfisher, the amount due also includes interest of Rs.121.88 crore. A recovery suit has been filed in the court for the whole amount, the minister said.

In another annexure, the minister said while Jet Airways owes as much as Rs.857.47 crore to the state-run Indian Oil Corp, GoAir's dues to the oil retailer was Rs.76.34 crore towards aviation turbine fuel.

In the case of Hindustan Petroleum, another public sector company, the amount due from airlines was Rs.66.72 crore from Kingfisher, Rs.19.28 crore from regional carrier Paramount and a small sum of Rs.100,000 from Jet Airways.