
National carriers Indian Airlines and Air-India accounted for 84 per cent of the Rs 646-crore dues of airlines to the Airports Authority of India at the end of 2005-06.
Air-India, Indian and their subsidiaries owed Rs 541 crore to AAI. Of this, Air-India was still to pay Rs 158 crore, while Indian owed Rs 354.26 crore8212;the highest for any airline in India.
Private carriers together owed a total of Rs 105.35 crore, with Air Deccan leading with dues of Rs 26 crore. It was followed by Jet Airways, whose dues to the AAI stood at Rs 23.6 crore. The dues of Air Sahara, Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet and GoAir together accounted for 25.6 per cent of the total dues of private sector airlines.
Though the dues of Air-India and Indian were very high, the reason for this, say sources, is that the carriers do not follow a total commercial model and also have to respond to social obligations. The dues, according to government data, are regularly monitored by the AAI.
Interest is levied for the overdue period on defaulting airlines. The security deposit is also increased.