Tribunal orders liquidation of Go First

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday ordered the liquidation of Go First, the budget carrier that stopped flying nearly three years ago after being bogged down by financial woes.

In May 2023, the airline filed for a voluntary insolvency resolution process citing financial woes.

The tribunal, in a 15-page order, said it is ordering the liquidation of the corporate debtor Go Airlines (India) Ltd.

The NCLT said the Committee of Creditors (CoC) in the legislative scheme is empowered to make the decision to liquidate the corporate debtor, any time after its constitution and before confirmation of the resolution plan.

"It is well settled that the decision taken by the CoC for liquidation in commercial wisdom of the CoC should not be interfered with by the Adjudicating Authority.

"Further, the resolution for liquidation of the corporate debtor was approved by the CoC with 100 per cent voting.

"Therefore, this Adjudicating Authority sees no merit in interfering with the commercial wisdom of the CoC," it noted.

Go Air, which was rebranded as Go First, flew for more than 17 years before suspending operations from May 3, 2023.

During the insolvency resolution process, there were at least two bidders in the fray -- Busy Bee Airways, along with SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh, and Sharjah-based aviation entity Sky One.

Travel portal EaseMyTrip's co-founder Nishant Pitti was the majority shareholder in  Busy Bee Airways.

In between, aviation regulator DGCA deregistered the 54 aircraft of Go First.

The resolution process did not take off and now, the tribunal has ordered the liquidation of the airline.

The budget airline started domestic operations in 2005-06 with the first flight from Mumbai to Ahmedabad and then in 2018-19, launched international operations.

Since commencing operations, Go First placed two orders for 72 A320 neo planes each with Airbus, one in 2011-12 and another in 2016-17.

The cash-starved airline reported a loss in the range of Rs 1,800 crore, including an Rs 800 crore notional loss due to accounting standards in the financial year ended March 2023.