Cash-strapped budget carrier Go First, which is under a court-directed insolvency process, will raise funds to continue as a going concern, according to the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) who will oversee the operations and management of the airline.
“We are working on a tight schedule,” Abhilash Lal, IRP, said during a townhall with the staff.
“We have to figure out how best to do it,” he said. “We have to raise the funds to do it and we have to ensure we have the qualified people to do it,” he added. However, there was no clarity either on schedule for payment of salaries pending for the month of April, or about resumption of flight operations which have been suspended since May 3.
The NCLT earlier admitted Go First’s plea for voluntary insolvency and appointed an IRP. It also granted the airline a moratorium from adverse action by lessors and lenders.
The airline had claimed financial losses of up to ₹10,000 crore on account of issues plaguing its Pratt & Whitney engines resulting in the grounding of 28 out of 54 aircraft and dues amounting to ₹11,643 to its various creditors.
The IRP also told employees that Go First’s promoters – the Wadia Group – continued to be interested in the airline. “This is a unique case where promoters have themselves sought bankruptcy. This has been done so that they are able to restructure the business, see what is required, figure out the best way forward. The promoters remain interested in the business, and they will continue to follow it and I am sure that they will be one of the resolution applicants themselves,” Mr. Lal added. Under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, the IRP manages the affairs of the Corporate Debtor and the powers of the Board and promoters stand suspended. The IRP’s tenure is for 30 days until a Committee of Creditors decides to replace or reappoint the person as Resolution Professional. The entire insolvency process has to be concluded in six months, but can be extended once by up to 90 days.
Two more aircraft lessors — GY Aviation and SFV Aircraft Holding — moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), joining SMBC Aviation Capital in appealing against the NCLT order. The court will hear their pleas on Friday along with the plea of a third lessor – SMBC Aviation Capital – which had also approached NCLAT. Law firm Wadia Ghandy & Co is representing all the three lessors.
