Dubai Airports has suspended check-in facilities for SpiceJet flights at Dubai International Airport over outstanding payments of 14 million dirhams, approximately Rs 35.8 crore, disrupting the airline’s departure operations on Thursday.
The airport operator had earlier warned SpiceJet on Monday that services would be halted from November 12 unless the entire outstanding amount was paid. According to an internal communication, the airline had made no payments since October 13.
Following the suspension, ground-handling partner dnata was allowed to process passengers for only two delayed flights bound for Ahmedabad and Delhi. All other departures remained restricted until the dues were cleared.
SpiceJet’s Dubai station manager subsequently instructed the flight operations team to cancel all departures from the airport, except the two permitted flights. The airline issued cancellation instructions for four services scheduled to fly to Amritsar, Jaipur, Mumbai and Delhi on November 12, citing “non-payment to dnata”.
The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority also summoned the station manager over the failure to announce the cancellations and directed the airline to arrange alternatives for affected passengers.
The four cancelled flights were later rescheduled as ferry services under their original flight numbers. Meanwhile, SpiceJet has yet to publish its latest quarterly financial results.
