New Delhi: Wadia Group-owned no-frills airline Go First has sought the approval to restart flights with 22 aircraft for the next five months from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Go First outlined its plan till November and said it aims to restart operations with military charter flights and then commercial flights. The airline management told the DGCA it has 340 pilots, 680 cabin crew, and 530 engineers, sufficient for operating 22 aircraft, a media report said citing a copy of the plan.
The no-frills airline mentioned in its business plan that it needs Rs 12 crore to run daily operations and that it has invested Rs 250 crore in the airline in the last week of April. The air carrier, which filed for insolvency last month, stated it needs Rs 200 crore to resume flying.
Go First also said that it has access to funds of Rs 400 crore under the Centre’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) and undrawn credit. Go First is also in talks with lenders to arrange an interim funding to the tune of Rs 200 crore. The funding will be utilised to pay salaries for April and May and also for making payments to vendors.
A senior Go First executive said there will be a steady cash flow once flying operations start. The executive added that the airline plans to pay lease rent and maintenance reserve from July.
Go First resolution professional Abhilash Lal has nominated the airline’s CEO Kaushik Khona to run day-to-day operations and act as the accountable manager. The airline expects DGCA’s approval for the plan within a week, sources in the know said.
The civil aviation regulator last week sought a resumption plan after a meeting with the Go First management. DGCA also wanted assurances on the availability of pilots and cabin crew for seamless operations, as per senior executives.
The airline owes around Rs 11,400 crore, of which Rs 6,520 crore is to financial creditors, media reports said quoting court documents filed by the airline in May. The lenders’ consortium, led by Central Bank, is unwilling to release funds to Go First. An executive of a bank having exposure to Go First said “the funding will be contingent on (whether) DGCA allows the airline to resume operations and if it has a concrete business plan”.
