DGCA gets IDERA request for deregistration of all three FlyBig aircraft
Japanese lessor AER, LLC submitted an IDERA
(Revocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorization) has requested the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s regulatory body, to deregister all three aircraft currently registered with regional airline FlyBig.
At the end of the September quarter, the airline had three 19-seat DHC6 (Twin Otter) aircraft in its fleet. The IDERA notification covers all three registered VT-HIT, VT-FBC and VT-BHK. The airline has only 58 confirmed weekly departures in its Northern Winter 2025 schedule, which begins on October 26, 2025. Although the airline never operated its full approval quota, at its peak it was approved for 255 weekly flights in Summer 2024. DGCA published these announcements on its website on November 6.
Flight tracking site Flightradar24 shows that VT-BHK last operated on October 24, VT-HIT last operated on October 24, and VT-FBC last operated on October 26. According to the website, these three planes are in Bhopal.
An IDERA request is a formal legal document that authorizes a lessor or lender of an aircraft to deregister, repossess and expel the aircraft from a country if the lessee defaults on lease payments or loan obligations under the Cape Town Convention. It provides significant security in global aircraft financing by simplifying the process for creditors to recover assets from a defaulted airline.
India ratified the Cape Town Convention by passing the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Act, 2025, which received Presidential assent in April 2025, formally bringing the provisions of the Convention on aircraft financing and leasing into Indian law. The bill was enacted aimed at aligning India’s domestic laws with international agreement, increasing aircraft leasing, reducing costs and attracting investment in the Indian aviation sector. Before this, India was one of the signatories of the Cape Town Convention, but local laws were not compliant, creating problems for lessors in getting the aircraft back, as seen in the Go FIRST case.
FlyBig’s checkered history
It was not possible to book flights on the airline’s website this afternoon as no airports were listed on the airport list. The airline has flight confirmations to Ambikapur, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Datia, Khajuraho, Raipur and Rewa. The airline has had a checkered history as it started its operations in Indore with ATR 72s, shifted them to the North East, then faced difficulties with ATRs and switched to DHC6s. The airline then shifted its base to Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, launching new routes and airports, and then did the same, moving to Madhya Pradesh. He was unable to establish a strong presence from the beginning. The airline operated 163 flights in September and carried only 610 passengers, with a meager occupancy rate of 20%. This is probably why maintaining ongoing operations and meeting financial expenses has become a challenge even with a sustainability gap fund. The highest load factor this year was 30.3% recorded in April; this is even weaker for a 19-seater aircraft, and even when subsidies and VGF are added the costs are almost impossible to cover.
Regional aviation in India has always been challenging, with jets from Paramount to Air Costa and skeletons emerging with support from TruJet, Air Pegasus, Air Carnival and others. In a year when Star Air has become India’s largest and longest-serving private regional carrier, another one is likely to fall off the map.
Impact on passengers
In the case of major flights, the number of passengers affected will be much less than for all major airlines; The September average will be less than 4 passengers per flight and the annual average will be less than 5 passengers per flight; However, this will impact the number of operational airports in the country with airports like Rewa, Ambikapur and Datia falling off the map of active airports in the country, further reducing the number of active airports starting from 129 last winter to 126 this winter. As the government redraws the UDAN scheme to extend it beyond the initial 10 years, it will have to look at how it can have well-capitalised regional carriers that can sustain and maintain their niche to develop an ecosystem that helps everyone.
Author Ameya Joshi is an aviation analyst.
