NEW DELHI – India’s popular airline, Go First announced on Friday that it was cancelling all flights until May 12 due to operational reasons.
Earlier, the airline had announced that it was cancelling the flights till May 9th but the crisis faced by the carrier seems to be more severe than originally estimated.
“We regret to inform you that due to operational reasons, Go First flights scheduled till May 12, 2023 have been cancelled. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the flight cancellations. A full refund will be issued to the original mode of payment shortly. We acknowledge the flight cancellations might have disrupted your travel plans and we are committed to providing all the assistance we can,” said a statement by the firm.
On Tuesday, the carrier filed for bankruptcy proceedings, blaming ‘faulty’ Pratt & Whitney engines for the grounding of about half of its fleet.
The civil aviation regulator of the country is keeping an eye on the company and issued an order to process the refunds to passengers.
In a statement, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) said that Go First has intimated that they have suspended flights till May 15, 2023 and the regulator was working to refund or reschedule for future dates.
The Wadia Group-owned airline has total 65.21 billion rupees ($797m) debt to financial creditors as of April 28 as per bankruptcy filing. The carrier said in the filing that it has defaulted on payments to operational creditors, including 12.02 billion rupees ($146.9m) to vendors and 26.60 billion rupees ($325m) to aircraft lessors.
Despite being a private airline, the carrier has been making waves on national level as India’s Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the government has been assisting the airline in every possible manner.
The issue has also been taken up with the stakeholders involved, he said.
The Gofirst crisis is not new as in March this year, Indigo and Go first grounded as many as 50 of its aircraft due to multiple reasons. The planes were put out of operation due to Pratt & Whitney engine issues, aided by ongoing challenges in the supply chain.
The aviation giant was also considering to place the order regarding Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines with a different firm so that disruptions could be avoided in future.
An official statement from P&W which is a US-based aerospace manufacturer said it was facing supply chain issues to replace engines for Indian customers.
“We’re experiencing global supply chain challenges which are limiting the availability of structural castings and other parts. We’re progressing on our mitigation strategies with our supply base and expanding MRO network capacity while continuing hardware and software upgrades to extend engine time on the wing. At the same time, we’re coordinating closely with customers on solutions to minimize operational disruption. We expect supply chain pressures to ease later this year, which will support the output of both production and MRO engines,” a P&W spokesperson said.
The airline came into being back in 2005 and rose to become the biggest flag carrier of the country currently serving over 100 countries. The domestic market share of the firm is over 50 percent as of October 2022.
India’s aviation industry is fast evolving but currently is dominated by IndiGo and the recent Air India-Vistara merger under the Tata conglomerate.
