According to a report in Economic Times, fed up with chasing the airline for payment, GMR ( New Delhi and Hyderabad Airports) and state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also asked Kingfisher Airlines to either clear the Rs 200 crore dues by this week or be on cash-and-carry from next week. The GVK Group, which runs Mumbai and Bangalore Airports, will also take a call on the same soon.

“Kingfisher Airlines has a bank guarantee of Rs 100 crore and their dues are Rs 200 crore. They gave us dated cheques for Rs 50 crore but we were asked not to deposit them for lack of funds. Earlier this week, we issued a notice to the airline to clear all dues. If that is not done, we would encash the bank guarantee and may put the airline on cash-and-carry mode,” said a senior AAI official.

A GMR Group official said that the airline owes Delhi and Hyderabad Airports about Rs 125 crore. “We do not face this problem with others airlines. Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) like IndiGo and SpiceJet are prompt. Jet Airways avails of cash discounts for paying on time, even before time. But Kingfisher Airlines is being put on cash and- carry from August 15, 2010,” said a GMR Group official.

The GVK Group is learnt to have dues of over Rs 100 crore. Prakash Mirpuri, Spokesperson, Kingfisher Airlines said, “We do not discuss supplier/partner relationships in public.” The trouble with airport operators comes close on heels of similar action by oil PSUs for the same reason. Recently, Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Petroleum told the Parliament that Kingfisher Airlines biggest jet fuel supplier HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited) had decided to put the airline on cash-and-carry. The airline buys about 1,300 kilolitres worth Rs 133 crore every month and had defaulted on payments.

In a written reply, Prasada said Kingfisher Airlines had a total outstanding of Rs 525.5 crore as on March 31, 2010. This included: Rs 249.7 crore due that was well within the agreed credit period and Rs 275.8 crore overdue outstanding. The airline, which has about Rs 6,000 crore debt on its books, is also learnt to have sought a two-year moratorium on all loan repayment. Kingfisher Airlines has asked SBI Caps to restructure its finances and is planning to raise USD 200 million through a global depository receipts issue.

"We were told about the liquidity crunch Kingfisher is facing and did not force as we did not want to take the airline to the brink as that would affect connectivity. But now things have gone too far and sleeping over such dues could mean vigilance trouble for PSU AAI apart from cash flow issues for all airport operators," said a senior airport official.