Amitha Reji George, Pune
On Friday, the Supreme Court denied SpiceJet’s appeal against an order from the Delhi High Court ordering the airline to return three engines it had leased from Team France 01 SAS and Sunbird France 02 SAS because of unpaid debt.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud’s three-judge bench upheld the high court’s rulings, concluding that SpiceJet had broken a consent order with the renters. The Court stated that it was hesitant to intervene and that the ruling from the high court was correct.
Amit Sibal, a senior lawyer representing SpiceJet, asked the Supreme Court for more time to deal with the grounding order, but his request was denied. Sibal stated that talks for a settlement had taken place in Singapore and that the airline had already paid the lessors about $8 million. The court declined to step in, despite his requests for assistance until an agreement was reached.
Sibal further informed the court that although SpiceJet had previously grounded two of the three engines, more time was needed to properly ground the engines before giving them back to the lessors. SpiceJet should contact the Delhi High Court to clarify its situation, the Supreme Court recommended in response.
On behalf of the lessors, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi claimed that SpiceJet routinely violated the consent order even though the airline had made eighteen court appearances and was facing two high court judgements while continuing to operate the engines.
According to the consent order, SpiceJet would have to return the engines within 15 days if it failed to pay the payments, Singhvi said. SpiceJet claimed in court two of SpiceJet’s 21 aircraft were grounded as a result of the airline’s legal argument in court that its operations would be impacted if the engines were stopped.
The airline stated in a statement that they are currently in discussion with the lessor for an agreeable settlement. Particularly, our activities continue as usual and are unaffected, and two of the three engines in concern have already been grounded. We are still dedicated to making sure everything runs smoothly.
SpiceJet’s stock fell 3.50% to ₹65.99 at 2:15 PM on Friday after the order.