Go First Bankruptcy: DGCA Issues Show Cause Notice As Airline Cancels Flights Till May 5

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a show cause notice to Go First after the airline cancelled fresh bookings from May 3-5. In a statement, DGCA said that no prior intimation was given to the DGCA for such cancellations and Go First (formerly Go Air) has failed to adhere to the approved schedule which would lead to passenger inconvenience thereby violating the provisions of CAR, Section 3, Series M, Part IV. DGCA has sought a reply from Go First Airlines within the next 24 hours of the issuance of the show cause notice.

Go First, a Wadia Group owned airline earlier filed for insolvency proceedings with NCLAT amid severe cash crunch, said airline in a statement. “It has come to the notice of DGCA that Go First has cancelled all scheduled flights of 03rd May 4th May 2023 respectively. No prior intimation has been given to DGCA for such cancellations which is non-compliance with conditions for approval of schedule” said DGCA.

“Thus Go First has failed to report in writing the cancellations and reasons thereof. Go first has failed to adhere to the approved schedule which would lead to passenger inconvenience thereby violating the provisions of CAR, Section 3, Series M, Part IV” it added.

The airline’s chief Kaushik Khona said on Tuesday said the budget carrier has temporarily suspended all the flights, domestic and international and has also filed an application for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Delhi. Khona said the airline has grounded 25 planes, more than half of its fleet, due to non-supply of engines by Pratt & Whitney (P&W).

“It is an unfortunate decision (filing for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings) but it had to be done to protect the interests of the company,” he said speaking to PTI. Flights will be suspended on May 3 and 4. Further, once the NCLT admits the application, then the flights will be restarted, Khona said. 

“GO FIRST has had to take this step due to the ever-increasing number of failing engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney’s International Aero Engines, LLC, which has resulted in GO FIRST having to ground 25 aircraft (equivalent to approximately 50% of its Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet) as of 1 May 2023. The percentage of grounded aircraft due to Pratt & Whitney’s faulty engines has grown from 7% in December 2019 to 31% in December 2020 to 50% in December 2022,” said Go First.