Aviation Regulatory Deregisters 15 Kingfisher Airlines' Aircraft

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has deregistered 15 aircraft operated by the grounded Kingfisher Airlines on Tuesday.

The deregistered aircraft can now be returned to the companies that had leased them to Kingfisher Airline owned by UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya.

The decision of deregistering 15 aircraft operated by Kingfisher Airlines was announced by DGCA Chief Arun Mishra after a meeting with tax officials and airport operators.

Earlier, several financiers had informed DGCA that the ongoing dispute between them and the airline would affect the Indian aviation industry.

Stating that the deregistered aircrafts would soon be released Arun Mishra said, "We have decided that those aircrafts, which were deregistered by DGCA, we should release them," Reuters reported.

Mishra added that the deregistered planes would only be retrieved by the lessors after they clear parking charges from the date of deregistration till the day they fly back the planes.

However, the two to three planes owned by International Lease Finance Corp can be retrieved only after it settles the pending litigation.

"Only a few of them are under litigation. Airports have filed a case. We will have to wait for that." Mishra said.

Several aircraft of Kingfisher Airlines were seized by Airports Authority of India and will be released after the airline clears pending dues.

The announcement of the deregistration of 15 aircraft operated by Kingfisher comes soon after representatives of German Bank DVB demanded the deregistration of its two planes that have been seized by the bank from Turkey where they were sent for repair and maintenance.

DVB officials met Mishra on Monday and stressed on the deregistration of two of the aircraft in the presence of Kingfisher Airline's Executive Vice President Hitesh Patel.