A division bench of the Delhi High Court had held that the carrier had violated an agreed interim arrangement for payment of dues and upheld an order of a single-judge bench asking the low-cost airline to ground the three engines for defaulting on the payments.

The Supreme Court denied a request from SpiceJet's senior counsel Amit Sibal for more time to comply with the grounding order. Sibal said the airline had already paid more than $8 million to the lessors and that discussions were on in Singapore for a settlement. He requested relief until an agreement was reached, but the court refused to intervene.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the order of the Delhi High Court that directed the low cost airline to ground three engines leased to it by French lessors. The top court, however, said that the parties can talk amongst themselves and settle.

In a statement after the Supreme Court ruling, SpiceJet said it was in discussions with the aircraft lessor to reach an amicable settlement

The lessors, in their submission to the Supreme Court, highlighted that SpiceJet had undertaken to fulfil its payment obligations but subsequently defaulted, thereby violating the terms of the consent order.

A high court bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Amit Bansal refused to interfere with an August 14 order of the single-judge bench to ground the three aircraft engines and hand them over to the lessors, and disposed of SpiceJet's appeals against it.

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld an order of the Delhi High Court which directed low-cost airline SpiceJet to ground three aircraft engines for defaulting on payments to lessors.

CNBC-TV18 reported that the airline has been asked to ground and return the three engines within 15 days. Shares of SpiceJet slipped to day's low, falling by over a percent after the news.