(Reuters) – Cash-strapped Indian airline Go First Airways filed for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings in the National Company Law Tribunal on Tuesday.
Following are some details on the budget carrier:
Go First was incorporated in April 2004 as GoAir and commenced flight operations in November the following year. Its inaugural flight was from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.
The airline is owned by the Wadia Group, which also runs bread and biscuits maker Britannia Industries and textile firm Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co.
It connected 27 domestic destinations and seven international cities that include Dubai and Phuket.
Go First has a fleet size of 59 aircraft, comprising 54 A320neo and five A320.
Nearly half of the fleet grounded due to failures in their Pratt & Whitney (P&W) jet engines that are yet to be replaced.
The grounding cost 108 billion rupees ($1.32 billion) in lost revenues and additional expenses, Go First said in a statement on Tuesday.
The low-cost carrier posted its biggest annual loss in fiscal 2022, local media had reported.
The Wadia Group was in talks to sell a part of its stake or completely exit the airline, the Economic Times newspaper had reported in April.
Go First’s market share in India’s domestic aviation industry fell to 6.9% in March, from 8.4% in January.
The grounding and related issues also saw the airline delay plans to go public, local media reported.
The airline had the lowest on-time performance, a gauge of punctuality, of 49.2% in March.
($1 = 81.8240 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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