The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora, informed the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament) that Indian domestic airlines Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways, National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Air India), Paramount and SpiceJet, still owe a whopping Rs. 2,225.52 Crore ($445 million) to the stated owned oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. Rs. 5 Crore = US$ 1 million.
Bulk of the outstanding (Rs. 2,183.46 Crore) is from the three legacy airlines Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher. Paramount Airways had to pay Rs 25.82 crore and SpiceJet owed Rs 16.24 crore.
From the beginning of this calendar year, these three carriers have reduced their outstandings from Rs. 3,608.20 Crore to Rs. 2,183.46 Crore by the end of May. Air India has reduced it’s outstanding almost 64%, Jet by 40%. Financially strapped Kingfisher Airlines which was put on a “cash and carry” basis by Indian Oil has been lagging at a measly 7.73%.
Mr. Deora also informed the house
“This issue was also taken up with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which advised the airlines to clear their outstanding dues promptly.”
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