GoAir, the Wadia Group-owned no-frills airline which operates an exclusively Airbus A320ceo and A320neo fleet, announced on January 23, 2020, that they will be proactively cancelling flights for a temporary period due to the lack of aircraft.
GoAir stated that the cancellations were caused because of the inability of Airbus and Pratt & Whitney according to schedule. Per GoAir,
Airbus and Pratt & Whitney have informed GoAir of their inability to deliver previously promised aircraft and engines through March 9, 2020, that are required to support our current growth.
Because of this reason, GoAir will be temporarily suspending certain flights which are currently open for sale. Which flights are being cancelled and for how long, GoAir did not say. The Economic Times estimates 50 flights, including flights to Singapore and Kuwait, will be cancelled during this duration.
GoAir
Back in November & December 2019, GoAir had some major cancellations, partly because of delay in delivery of aircraft and engines. GoAir cancelled as many as 40 flights in a stretch in November and December 2019, during which it also reported engine glitches on two flights which were airborne, which were later taken out of operations for further inspection. The following aircraft are currently grounded:
- VT-WJF (Since Jan 9, 2020)
- VT-WJJ (Since Dec 21, 2019)
- VT-WGC (Since Jan 7, 2020)
- VT-WGH (Since Dec 19, 2019)
- VT-WGE (Since Jan 4, 2020)
- VT-WGN (Since Jan 12, 2020)
- VT-WGO (Since Dec 11, 2019)
- VT-WGS (Since Jan 14, 2020)
- VT-WGV (Since Dec 23, 2019)
- VT-WGW (Since Jan 14, 2020)
The GoAir statement continued to explain,
GoAir has placed an order of 144 Airbus A320neo aircraft and has experienced delivery delays during the month of November and December, adding to its operational challenges. During the same time, non-availability of Pratt & Whitney spare engines have also hampered the smooth functioning of the airline.
GoAir has 144 Airbus 320neo aircraft on order, which are supposed to be delivered to them through 2025. Through December 2019, GoAir had received 43 of these aircraft, including 12 in 2019 itself.
- April 2019: 1 A320neo
- May 2019: 2 A320neos
- June 2019: 1 A320neo
- July 2019: 1 A320neo
- September 2019: 1 A320neo
- October 2019: 1 A320neo
- November 2019: 2 A320neos
- December 2019: 3 A320neos
It seems to me that the orders were delivered right about the time they were to be delivered, because Go Air had three aircraft coming in December 2019, all the way to December 30, 2019, and none in some other months.
For GoAir however, given the engine troubles with the A320Neos powered by the Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, troubles have soared because of an order from the DGCA to IndiGo on November 25, 2019, to replace all the unmodified engines on their existing A320neo aircraft by January 31, 2020, which may have caused reduction in availability of engines to GoAir during the timeframe.
The cancellations in December 2019 caused its streak of being the most punctual airline (at 4 metro airports) for 14 months in a row. Do expect large scale cancellations from GoAir in the coming months, and if we find out a scheduled list, we will put it out for you.
What do you make of the cancellations from GoAir?
Hi Ajay, as the ticket is cancelled, is there a trick to get refund on hotel as I booked non refundable fare as my plan was firm and not tentative? Now that the air ticket price is double, I don’t want to rebook. I had already booked hotel 🙁 I had booked hotel using travel website, and don’t have any elite hotel membership
The BLR – Phuket also uses a320 neos, do you they can also be impacted in Feb and March?
I have a flight on 14th Feb Early Morning from Mumbai to Delhi, G82508. Historically, the aircraft keep alternating between A20N and A320. Do you think the above development could affect this flight too?
I have a flight to Singapore in first week of April, booked for vacation. Do you think I should rebook elsewhere, fare difference will be too much now 🙁 And also, if I want to cancel, will goair allow yet with full refund?
@GKCards I think you should first check if your flight has been affected past few days or not and then make that decision. GoAir won’t be giving you a full refund I am sure, an apology is enough by their standards.
They are not showing flight for booking for any date, and my dates. Customer care has longgg wait and then got auto disconnected
I managed to speak to GO Air customer care. They have confirmed the cancellation and processed full refund. Vacation plan seems screwed as tickets on other airlines are almost double fare now