Adani-owned Mumbai airport takes Jet Airways dues row to appellate tribunal

Billionaire Gautam Adani-owned Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) has approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the liquidator of the bankrupt Jet Airways over being denied its full parking, storage and hangar dues, and the downgrading of its status as an unsecured creditor.

A bench led by NCLAT chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan on Thursday issued notice to Jet Airways’ liquidator, Satish Kumar Gupta, and listed the matter for further hearing on 24 April. The tribunal also recorded the liquidator’s assurance that no disbursal to creditors will be made until the NCLAT decides the matter.

MIAL had submitted claims of over ₹860 crore towards parking, storage, hangar and related charges after Jet Airways’ aircraft remained parked at the Mumbai airport for several years following the airline’s collapse in 2019.

The Mumbai bench of the NCLT, in its 13 February order, admitted only about ₹510.75 crore of MIAL’s claim, rejecting the remainder. In a similar outcome, GMR-operated Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) saw only about ₹244 crore of its ₹352 crore claim admitted. The tribunal also upheld the liquidator’s decision to treat airports as unsecured creditors, a classification that places them lower in the repayment hierarchy during bankruptcy or liquidation with limited say in the resolution process, typically resulting in weaker recoveries.

The NCLT said airport rules allow detention of aircraft for non-payment of dues, but do not create a legal charge over assets. Once liquidation begins, all claims must be settled strictly under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) waterfall, or the order of priority in which creditors are repaid.

Under Section 53 of the IBC that deals with the liquidation waterfall, insolvency costs are paid first, followed by secured creditors and workmen’s dues. Operational creditors, including airports, rank much lower.

Mint had earlier reported that if the NCLT ruling is upheld, it could weaken airports’ bargaining power in airline insolvencies, as they lose priority in recoveries and influence over proceedings.

The dispute over airport dues is also linked to the sale of three grounded Jet Airways’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft that had been parked at the Mumbai airport since 2018. In 2022, Malta-based Ace Aviation agreed to buy the aircraft for about ₹400 crore, but the sale was delayed due to litigation with the airport over unpaid dues. In October 2025, the NCLAT directed the liquidator to keep the sale proceeds in an escrow account until the dues dispute was decided by the NCLT, which subsequently clarified that MIAL is not a secured creditor.

Counsel for Mumbai International Airport told the NCLAT that the aircraft have now been flown out after completion of the sale process.

Jet Airways shut operations in April 2019 and entered insolvency in June that year. A revival plan approved in 2021 failed, and in November 2024, the airline was pushed into liquidation following Supreme Court directions.