The National Company Law Tribunal on June 16 adjourned the insolvency pleas filed by aircraft lessor Wilmington SP Trust Services against SpiceJet. and listed it for July 17.
The senior counsel appearing for SpiceJet argued that Aircastle (Ireland) and Wilmington SP Trust Services were the same entity and so this was the third petition filed by Aircastle (Ireland).
Aircastle (Ireland) has filed two separate petitions to initiate a corporate insolvency resolution process against the airline. The invoices raised by Wilmington for aircraft leases were in the name of Aircastle (Ireland), the lawyer claimed.
SpiceJet has failed to pay its outstanding dues, the lessor alleges in its plea. A day earlier, the NCLT had adjourned the hearing of a similar plea filed by lessor Wilmington against the airline. The matter is likely to be listed on July 16. In addition to Aircastle and Wilmington, engine lessor Willis Lease Finance Corporation has also filed a plea with NCLT against SpiceJet.
The counsel appearing for Wilmington argued that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had registered Wilmington as a separate entity from Aircastle (Ireland), and the two cannot be treated as the same.The tribunal had raised questions about the maintainability of the second insolvency plea filed by Aircastle on June 13. It asked the petitioner to satisfy the court if two petitions by the same operational creditor against the same corporate debtor could be filed.
The two petitions filed by Aircastle (Ireland) and the one by Wilmington SP Trust are now listed for July 17.
Besides these two aircraft lessors, engine leasing company Willis Lease Finance Corp has also filed an insolvency plea against SpiceJet, which is listed for July 4.
Aircastle (Ireland) had filed a CIRP petition against SpiceJet on April 28. The matter is listed for July 17.
SpiceJet, on June 5, had filed an application in the Aircastle (Ireland) case, questioning the maintainability of the petition.
The airline said there were two defects in the petition and argued that “given that the debt fell due on February 2021, it was protected from default under Section 10 of the IBC, 2016.”
As per an ET report, Wilmington and Aircastle (Ireland) had got two aircraft deregistered from DGCA in March under the provisions of Irrevocable De-registration and Export Request Authorisations (IDERA).
