New Delhi: GoFirst airline has closed its bookings for the next three days. According to CEO Kaushik Khona, flights will be temporarily suspended on 3rd, 4th and 5th May due to acute fund crunch. GoFirst is facing a financial crisis due to non-supply of engines from P&W, which has resulted in the grounding of 28 aircraft.
On the other hand, GoFirst has today filed an application for resolution under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Delhi. At the same time, sources have told that more than 60 percent of the flights of GoFirst airline have been grounded. Due to these flights being grounded, airline bookings are being cancelled on many routes. Wadia-owned GoFirst is said to have suspended flights for May 3 and 4 due to dues from oil marketing companies.
Simultaneously, the airline has filed a lawsuit against the American engine manufacturer in Delaware federal court, seeking to enforce an arbitration order asking Pratt & Whitney to provide engines to the airline. Failure to do so threatens the closure of the airline. The arbitration award, given on March 30 in favor of GoFirst, said the airline was at risk of irreparable damage if the emergency engines were not provided.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation is closely monitoring the matter. Wadia Group-owned low-cost carrier GoFirst has announced temporary suspension of its flights from May 3 to 5 due to severe cash crunch. Along with this, the airline has also applied for voluntary insolvency resolution process in the Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). On the status of Go First, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that it would be better to wait for the legal process in this matter.
Go First has been operating for over 17 years. In the first quarter of the current year, it has carried 29.11 lakh passengers on domestic routes. GoFirst’s market share stood at 7.8 percent during this period. Two GoFirst flights diverted to Surat airport reached Mumbai late on Tuesday night after a delay of hours. Two Go Air flights Srinagar-Mumbai and Delhi-Mumbai were diverted to Surat airport on Tuesday evening. After this, both the flights were made to land at Surat airport. Both the aircraft landed at Surat airport between 6:30 pm and 7 pm.
