Days after UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya assured of taking measures to restart operations of the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, representatives of German Bank DVB demanded the de-registration of its two planes.
In a meeting held with Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Arun Mishra on Monday, DVB officials had stressed on the de-registration of two of the aircrafts in the presence of Kingfisher Airline's Executive Vice President Hitesh Patel.
The two planes were seized by DVB, one of the largest global aviation financing banks, from Turkey where they were sent for repair and maintenance.
According to reports, DVB does not have the authority to reclaim, sell or lease the aircrafts to other companies until the aircrafts were de-registered in the lessor country.
The final decision on de-registration of the aircrafts will be taken in another round of meeting between DGCA and the officials of the bank which will be held soon.
In accordance with the Delhi High Court order, the Civil Aviation Ministry is considering to release 15 de-registered aircrafts of the grounded airline to its lessors.
However, no formal announcement has been made on the same.
The report of DVB's demand on de-registration came soon after Mallya took a dig at State Bank of India (SBI) Chief Pratip Chaudhuri for his constant talks with the media over the bank's loan recovery from Kingfisher Airlines.
While criticising the SBI chief on Twitter, Mallya claimed that he was planning to restart the debt-struck airline.
Kingfisher Airlines has been grounded since October 2012 and lost its operation permit after its licence expired on 31 December.
The airlines has a debt of around ₹8,630 crores, out of which it owes ₹7,500 crores to a consortium of 17 public banks.
