Aircraft rental company to pay Dh6.2 million to airline

Wednesday, Sep 19, 2012

Abu Dhabi:

An aircraft rental company is to pay an airline Dh6.2 million, and will have assets of an equal monetary value confiscated until the amount is paid, the Abu Dhabi Commercial Court of First Instance ruled yesterday (Wednesday)

Under an aircraft lease, where one company rents aircraft from an airline for extra capacity, the two companies agreed on a five-year contract where the rental company pays $206,600 (approximately Dh706,000) per month for the rented aircraft.

According to the plaintiff, the rental company allegedly accumulated an amount of $1.26 million (approximately Dh 4.6 million) in rental charges which it owed to the airline.

However, an aircraft engineer which the court consulted, concluded that the plaintiff did not exceed the number of agreed hours of rental.

The expert declared that the airline should reimburse the rental company for the unused hours.

A faulty airport landing on behalf of the accused company resulted in additional damage expenses of nearly $156,000 (Dh 600,000), the engineer estimated.

The rental company reportedly refused to pay the compensation to both the airline and the Abu Dhabi Airport Company (ADAC) and its subsidiaries.

Another expert, who could not provide the court with his opinion on the number of hours exceeded, confirmed that the plaintiff violated its financial obligations towards the defendant.

Based on both experts’ testimony, the Court of First Instance decided on the final amount to be paid by the rental company.

By Nada Al Taher Staff Reporter