In a setback to Go First, the Delhi High Court has ordered the airline not to fly lessors’ aircraft as part of scheduled maintenance, questioning the urgency and need for these flights. The court said that the resolution professional (RP) has been unable to give compelling reasons to carry out these maintenance flights.
Go First will have to abide by these orders about such non-revenue flights until further decisions can be taken on this.
“The respondent no.9/ RP of Go Airlines has also not been able to show any urgency or any grave imminent threat to these aircraft to suddenly and without any prior notice, compel the respondent no.9 RP to fly these aircraft. Prima facie, the term - scheduled maintenance cannot be understood to include flying the aircraft even if it is a non-commercial flight. Thus, respondent no.9/ RP of Go Airlines cannot be permitted at this stage, to continue with these handling/maintenance flights,” the court statement read.
The decision came after an application filed by SMBC Aviation Capital Limited, saying that the RP has flown 2 aircraft owned by the petitioners without the court’s permission and disregarding the earlier order.
GO First has been at loggerhead with lessors ever since filing for bankruptcy as the lessors have approached the DGCA to deregister its entire fleet of 54 aircraft.
Going ahead, the airline is reportedly planning to restart operations with a funding of around INR 6-7 billion, more than the initial interim funding of INR 4-5 billion.