Pay Rs 38 cr dues within a week, AAI orders GoAir

It has issued a notice to the airline that it may be put on the 'pay-as-you-fly' mode if the dues are not cleared on time

Acting tough after its experiences with Kingfisher and SpiceJet, Airports Authority of India (AAI) has asked no-frill carrier GoAir to pay its dues worth about Rs 38 crore within a week.

The AAI has issued a notice to the Wadia Group-promoted airline warning that it may be put on the "pay-as-you-fly" mode if the dues are not cleared on time.

A GoAir official said that the issue was being sorted out.

"Going by the bank guarantee of Rs 30.50 crore that the AAI has secured from us, we have an excess amount of only around Rs eight crore towards the airport operator. We have received a communication from them asking us to pay the balance amount. We are hopeful of the issue being sorted out soon," the airline official said.

Due to AAI pressure last year, GoAir had doubled the collateral amount or bank guarantee from about Rs 15 crore to Rs 30.5 crore, the official said.

The airline owes this money to the government-run airport operator towards charges relating to route navigation, landing and parking at its airports across the country.

AAI has allowed cash-strapped SpiceJet to use its airports for landing and parking without prior payment only after the Civil Aviation Ministry asked it to do so for a limited period. A large part of the dues of defunct Kingfisher Airlines are yet to be cleared.