Will the ‘grounding' see a 'take-off'?

The sudden bankruptcy of GoFirst and the battle to get the airline flying again is a tall order. History shows that no grounded airline has ever taken off again. Will GoFirst be an exception?

- AMEYA JOSHI

What's with May, that come summer Indian aviation is in for a shocker. From a May to forget to a May to remember, Indian aviation was looking forward to a change of fortunes. A Covid-induced lockdown had all but grounded airlines from March 25 to May 24, 2020. Subsequent waves of Covid led to a significant impact on recovery, until this year when revenge tourism led a comeback.

May was a month that the aviation business was looking forward to with much delight. The airline business was red hot and looked like it would only get hotter. As April came to a close, the industry recorded the highest-ever traffic in any April giving every indication that it was going to be a spectacular quarter- until GoFirst stopped bookings for flights for two days. The two-day stoppage continued for a while and then came the left hook that floored the industry.

GoFirst followed up with a formal communication informing that it is voluntarily filing for bankruptcy with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and blaming the situation on Pratt & Whitney not adhering to the arbitration award. As a best-case scenario, the airline expects that it could start operations by August or September this year if the situation resolves by then.

After a ding-dong week that saw a futile pushback by the leasing companies who contested the NCLT decision to accept the GoFirst bankruptcy plea and appoint a resolution professional. However, they lost the battle in the appellate court as well. Now the efforts to restart immediately have hit a deadlock. No airline in India has been able to start operations after grounding.