Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Go First flights grounded till May 12

minus
plus

Muscat: Go First on Friday said that it has now canceled all flights till May 12 due to “operational reasons.


“We regret to inform you that due to operational reasons, Go First flights scheduled till May 12 have been canceled," said the official statement.


It further added that a full refund will be issued to the original mode of payment shortly.


The statement further said, "We acknowledge the flight cancellations might have disrupted your travel plans and we are committed to providing all the assistance we can."


The Indian budget airline, Go First, has informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation that it has suspended the sale of tickets till May 15.


In a statement, the aviation regulator referred to the show cause notice issued to the airline and said that Go First had intimated that they have filed an application under section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.


No Image


“They have further intimated that they have temporarily suspended scheduled flight operations for a period of three days effective May 3 2023 and shall take further course of action as per the outcome of their application", the DGCA said


Go First's effort to start insolvency proceedings has become ensnared in a tussle with aircraft lessors after they asked the aviation regulator to deregister some of its planes as a step towards taking them back.



India's first major airline collapse since 2019 underlines the fierce competition in a sector dominated by IndiGo and the recent merger of Air India and Vistara under the Tata conglomerate.


Some lessors opposed Go Airlines (India) Ltd's plea at the first hearing of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday after the airline had blamed "faulty" Pratt & Whitney engines this week for the grounding of about half of its fleet.


The cash-strapped airline wants the tribunal to accept its plea and is seeking an interim moratorium to save its assets, a move the lessors oppose.


No Image


GY Aviation Lease, SMBC Aviation Capital, Pembroke Aircraft Leasing, and some others have submitted requests to take back at least 20 planes on Thursday, the regulator's website shows.


Go First did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lessors' bid to deregister the planes.


No Image


Go First had to ground more than half its 54 Airbus 320 neos fitted with Raytheon-owned P&W engines by April, according to a filing seen by Reuters.


Engine failures have cost the airline 108 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) in lost revenue and expenses, it said.


No Image


Amid the dispute between the lessors and the troubled airline, banks with exposure to it are awaiting the tribunal's decision to decide their next course of action, two people involved in the talks told Reuters.


"Since individual bank exposures are not high and some portion of it is guaranteed by the government, banks are preferring to wait it out till the NCLT order is out," said one of the bankers.


The bankers sought anonymity as the talks were private.


Central Bank of India Ltd, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank Ltd, and Deutsche Bank are among Go First's financial creditors, a court filing shows.


Although the government has not yet nudged the involved banks to take any specific action, one of the sources said the banks were open to the idea of restructuring.


Central Bank of India has said its exposure to the airline, at 0.91% of its total advances, was 13.05 billion rupees by the end of March, with an additional 6.82 billion sanctioned under a government-backed emergency credit guarantee scheme.


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon