Finally, after rusting away for years now, some work is on to remove the Kingfisher Airlines aircraft sitting in the hangars at Chennai airport in the coming days. There are a total of seven aircraft of Kingfisher Airlines which have been stationed at the airport ever since the operations of the airline came to a grinding halt in 2012. Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said, for now, the dismantling of two of the seven aircraft has begun and would be completed shortly. When aircraft that are grounded for years stay at the airport, the planes become unusable, having been exposed to all types of weather conditions and it also becomes a safety concern, an official said. “Birds and rodents have crept into this space. So, we kept reviewing the condition and have been trying to dispose them of for a long time now. This space is extremely valuable to us because it can be used as a parking slot for other aircraft,” an official said.
Sources said, a massive amount, running to a few crores was pending as parking dues which was recently cleared by the registered owner of the aircraft, a French company. Subsequently, a firm based out of Chennai got the work to dismantle two of the aircraft. “Most of the parts are in extremely bad shape. Landing gear has begun to rust. Yet, there are some parts in the aircraft which will be sold to companies abroad and some others to colleges for educational purposes,” he said. In the recent past, AAI had auctioned four F-27 aircraft of MEPC airlines which were turning into scrap in the airside. They were purchased by scrap dealers and subsequently dismantled. Also, there was a B777-300 aircraft of Jet Airways which was bought by an aircraft spares sales company. AAI officials said they were now looking at ways to dispose of the remaining aircraft too. “This helps us in recovering the dues, getting back our parking slots for the other airlines’ aircraft,” he added.
