It has been roughly five weeks since Go First shut operations and went into voluntary insolvency proceedings. Since then, the airline has had notices served on their planes which were leased, their insolvency petition admitted, and now the airline continues to cancel flights three days at a time, hoping that it can re-launch soon. Here are the plans they have for launch as of now.

Go First tells DGCA it intends to relaunch operations with borrowed money.

Go First submitted its plans to the Indian aviation regulator, DGCA, and told them they intended to restart operations with 26 aircraft and 152 daily flights. Out of the 26 aircraft, 22 will be operated, and four will be kept as spares. Before grounding, the airline was operating 200 daily flights. This is the plan it has outlined till November 2023.

The airline also told the DGCA that it is in discussions with lenders to meet the funding needs of the airline. (Creditors are expected to meet on Friday, June 9, 2023, to discuss the plans).

It is unclear how many employees Go First has at the moment. The airline had about 5,000 employees a month ago, and many of its pilots have accepted offers from other airlines, such as Air India. The airline management has informed the DGCA it has 340 pilots, 680 cabin crew, and 530 engineers, sufficient for operating 22 aircraft.

After filing for insolvency last month, the airline informed the regulator that it needed INR 200 crores to resume its flight operations. It has access to INR 400 crores through the government’s emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) and has undrawn credit available.

What about the planes?

Go First’s plans could be on paper, though. The airlines’ lessor partners are contesting with the Indian authorities that they no longer have a lease with Go First, and hence their aircraft should not be used for the restart of operations. Of course, they have reminded the Indian authorities that their contract with the airline was terminated before the moratorium was imposed. The lessors’ requests to deregister their aircraft and return them to the lessors have been put in cold storage for now. However, if the airline plans to operate these aircraft, it would be interesting to see the insurance issues they might face in the process.

Bottomline

Go First still needs approvals from the DGCA and clarity from their lenders about how much money they have access to. Additionally, they need permission to operate these aircraft. The airline’s restart plan is currently very optimistic, and it intends to operate 26 aircraft and serve 152 flights a day.

By when do you think Go First will be restarted?

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