Cash-strapped Go First has received an approval for $12 million as corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) cost to take care of urgent and mandatory liabilities. The funds will be used to pay for employee salaries, airport fees, aircraft upkeep, and other mandatory expenses.
The airline is currently in process of resuming commercial operations but no date has been finalized as of now.
Go First needed at least 66% of its lenders to vote in favour of receiving the funds and 98% of the lenders voted in its favour with only IDBI Bank abstained from voting
Go First’s resolution professional (RP) Shailendra Ajmera had asked for emergency funding earlier this month to pay for mandatory liabilities. The CIPR costs include around $4.5 million in employee salaries, $1 million for insurance premiums, around $640,000 for airport parking charges.
The airline is currently experiencing mass resignations from pilots and other staff who are quickly employed by other airlines like Indigo and Air India. As per certain media reports, Go First is now only left with 100 pilots, as nearly 500 of the total 600 pilots it had have left the company in the last few months.
Go First is also involved in a tug-of-war with lessors who are worried about the losses from their planes getting stuck with the carrier. In another setback to Go First, the Delhi High Court recently ordered the airline not to fly lessors’ aircraft as part of scheduled maintenance.
The court said that the airline cannot consider scheduled maintenance as the reason to fly its lessors’ aircraft. It added that the resolution professional (RP) who is managing the airline’s insolvency proceedings has been unable to give compelling reasons to carry out these maintenance flights.