DGCA asks Go First to submit a revival plan within 30 days

Go First airline aircrafts stand parked at the apron of the Mumbai airport, on May 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The DGCA has asked Go First to submit a “comprehensive” revival plan within 30 days after the regulator was dissatisfied with the airline’s response to its showcause notice merely professing interest in restart of operations.

“The DGCA has advised the airline on 24.05.2023 to submit, within a period of 30 days, a comprehensive restructuring/revival plan for a sustainable revival of operations,” the safety regulator said in a press statement.

The airline has been asked to furnish details of availability of operational aircraft fleet, pilots and other personnel required, maintenance arrangements, as well as funding being raised and arrangements with lessors and vendors.

A senior DGCA official explained that the latest communication followed Go First’s response to its show-cause notice on May 22, which was found to be “open-ended” as it merely professed an interest in resumption of flights without committing to timelines.

The airline had also expressed that it would like to use the moratorium period to prepare such a plan for revival and submit it to the DGCA for regulatory approvals. To a question on whether the DGCA will also be auditing the airline before recommencement of flights, the official said “we will take a view on that later.”

The National Company Law Tribunal on May 10 admitted Go First’s plea for voluntary insolvency and granted it protection under a moratorium from its lessors as well as various lenders and instructed the interim resolution professional to run the airline as a going concern. Following an appeal from lessors, the appellate tribunal upheld the NCLT order. But the airline has several challenges. Lessors have terminated leases of nearly 45 aircraft though there is a court moratorium offering protection to the airline from the planes being re-possessed. Nearly a fourth of its pilots are in the process of joining other airlines, while those still with it have demanded that until they are paid their salaries pending since April they will not join duties. Travel agents have also threatened to not undertake new bookings, if the airline demands liquid cash instead of allowing them to conduct fresh bookings against past dues owed to them, or in other words utilising credit shells issued by the airline. Then there is also the dent in consumer confidence which could hurt the airline, industry insiders warn.