The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed Go First to immediately stop booking and sale of tickets directly or indirectly until further orders and issued a show-cause notice to the cash-strapped airline.
The regulator will take a call on the air operator’s certificate (AOC) of the airline after examining its response to the notice, which has to be submitted within a fortnight. Earlier, the airline had suspended the sale of tickets till May 15 and has cancelled flights till May 12.
Meanwhile the government bailout seems unlikely in the present situation, according to Minister of State for Aviation VK Singh unless something could be done about the supply of engines to the airline. The airline employees are facing uncertainty in the middle of this financial crisis. The salaries, bonuses and reimbursements are already delayed by the airline since many months, as per industry sources.
Go First’s employees including pilots are seeking jobs in other Indian airlines including Air India, Indigo and Akasa. Air India received over 700 applications in the last few days in response to the advertisement which is under process.
The NCLT reserved its order on the crisis last week.