Go First will have to scale down its proposed resumption of routes or hire more pilots to resume operations as per the recent audit report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Accordingly Go First is planning to scale down its resumption plans by around 30% than earlier.
Going ahead, the airline will also need to sign fresh lease for 30-35 aircraft as lessors have already terminated the previous ones following its insolvency filing, according to Mint.
“While the airline is making active efforts to relaunch flight operations, it will need to re-enter into fresh lease agreements or get the termination revoked by the lessors in case it wants to operate these 30-35 aircraft whose lease agreements were terminated around the time the airline filed for insolvency,” the Mint reported on July 20 citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
Termination of an aircraft lease is sacrosanct. If the airline has to restart operations, it will have to get lessors on board, as without a lease contract in place, even the insurance of the aircraft comes into question...,” the financial daily quoted the source as saying. The budget carrier has already started preliminary talks to bring lessors on board towards an August relaunch, the report mentioned.
Meanwhile the DGCA in its audit found out that airline does not have enough pilots and other technical staff for the proposed scale of operations. The resolution professional (RP) has also told the DGCA that Go First has to process refunds of more than INR 5 bn for flights cancelled till early July and has advance bookings of about INR 11bn.
A senior airline official said the airline has now decided to recommence operations, subject to regulatory approval, with 15-18 aircraft and 130 flights per day and ramp up to 160 flights per day with 22 aircraft in the subsequent week.
However, the plan to have 22 aircraft in the fleet with four in reserve and 160 flights per day post resumption, remains unchanged.
In its pre-audit initial resumption plan submitted to the DGCA in the first week of June, Go First had 115 captains and 225 first officers on its payroll after discounting the crew that sought to quit.
The airline had said it would restart its services with 26 aircraft with around 160 daily flights.
The carrier had also proposed to fly to Leh and Thoise, but the DGCA found that the airline does not have the required number of trained pilots to fly at such high altitudes.
He said that the airline has 22 aircraft ready with four in reserve. “As and when we get a go-ahead, we will start deploying," the official said.