Singapore firm holds up Jet's 18 engines over unpaid dues, says report

The beleaguered Jet Airways' 18 CFM56 engines have been held at one of Singapore's maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit over unpaid dues mounting to about Rs 1,060 crore ($125-150 million), Business Standard reported, citing industry sources.

The engines which power Boeing 737 aircraft have been held by ST Engineering's MRO for months, with the maintenance unit demanding for the unpaid dues, the BS report said on Monday.

The MRO development is the latest in the series of defaults by the airline with lessors trying to explore taking back aircraft, the report said, adding that the company has 123 aircraft, out of which 86 are Boeing 737 which include 737 Max which were inducted last year.

"The 737 Max are powered by CFM Leap-1B engines; the plane's earlier variants use CFM56 engines. The airline has been able to keep a majority of its 737s operational because of spare engines in the kitty," the report said.

Jet controls over a sixth of a market experiencing an unprecedented boom in air travel. Yet high fuel taxes, a weak rupee and price competition have squeezed profitability, leaving Jet with Rs 8,052 crore ($1.14 billion) in net debt as at the end of September and defaulting on payments.