SpiceJet is facing severe operational hurdles in Dubai where passengers were reportedly blocked from check-in over unpaid dues, adding to the troubled airline's ongoing financial crisis and recent flight cancellations.

SpiceJet is facing severe operational hurdles in Dubai where passengers were reportedly blocked from check-in over unpaid dues, adding to the troubled airline's ongoing financial crisis and recent flight cancellations.

SpiceJet is facing severe operational hurdles in Dubai where passengers were reportedly blocked from check-in over unpaid dues, adding to the troubled airline's ongoing financial crisis and recent flight cancellations.

SpiceJet has said it's in talks with authorities in Dubai after the Emirates reportedly refused to check in the low-cost airline's passengers over unpaid dues.

“We are in the process of resolving the matter with the concerned authorities. We have adequate bank guarantee cover in place and are working to ensure that the issue is sorted out at the earliest,” the SpiceJet spokesperson said in response to a query from THE WEEK.

Though the airline didn't disclose how much its dues were, reports have said these amount to ₹36 crore. Furthermore, NDTV Profit reported that four SpiceJet flights from Dubai were cancelled on Thursday. However, two flights from Dubai—to Ahmedabad and Delhi—managed to take off before the sanction.

The Dubai setback is the latest in increasing instances of operational challenges at the troubled airline, which has been beset with financial trouble. Ironically, the airline's stock was up 4.96 per cent during morning market hours. That could be because of hopes of the company raising fresh funds. Its board is meeting on November 18, "to consider and approve proposal for raising fresh capital by way of issuance of equity shares, preference shares, debt securities and /or other permissible instruments, through preference shares, qualified institutional placement or any other mode," the company said in an exchange filing on Friday.

The stock is, however, down 28 per cent in a month.

That reflects its poor operational and financial performance in recent months. As per the monthly data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, SpiceJet had a market share of just 0.6 per cent in September,  which was even below the share of the much smaller regional airline Star Air. SpiceJet carried just 7.3 lakh passengers in September, a massive drop from 59 lakh in January.

Importantly, the airline is yet to release its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2026, and the first two quarters of the present 2027 fiscal.

The Ajay Singh-led airline is not alone in facing a squeeze as airlines across the globe suffer from heightened fuel costs and geopolitical uncertainty that has impacted travel. In India too, domestic travel has cooled down. Passenger traffic fell 6.5 per cent year-on-year in September. The country's largest airline IndiGo reported a net loss in the second quarter.

But the challenges for SpiceJet will be more serious as the airline has been in a fire-fighting mode for much of the past few years. There have been constant complaints from its employees, including pilots, about delayed salaries. Former employees have alleged non-payment of their full and final settlement.

While the SpiceJet spokesperson told THE WEEK that the airline has 12 operational aircraft, three of them are said to be grounded. That's quite a fall from about 120 aircraft it had in 2020. The following years have seen multiple leasing companies taking the airline to court over unpaid dues.

Things may have turned for the worse in the past few weeks, with scores of passengers taking to social media over delayed or cancelled flights. Many have complained of not getting refunds.

The airline has cancelled nearly one-third of its daily flights in the past few days.

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