Indian airline Go First filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, blaming “faulty” Pratt & Whitney engines for the grounding of about half its fleet. The move marks the first major airline collapse in India since Jet Airways filed for bankruptcy in 2019, and underscores the fierce competition in a sector dominated by IndiGo and the recent merger of Air India and Vistara under the Tata conglomerate, according to media reports.
Go First’s total debt to financial creditors is 65.21 billion rupees ($797 million) as of April 28, it said in a bankruptcy filing, according to Reuters. The company has not defaulted on any of these dues as of April 30, but has defaulted on payments to operational creditors, including 12.02 billion rupees ($146.9 million) to vendors and 26.60 billion rupees ($325 million) to aircraft lessors, it said in the filing.
Go First said in a statement its filing with the National Company Law Tribunal comes after Pratt & Whitney, the exclusive engine supplier for the airline’s Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet, refused to comply with an arbitration order to release spare leased engines to the airline that would have allowed it to return to full operations.
An issue with Pratt & Whitney engines that safety authorities had warned could shut down a plane’s engine mid-flight has dogged Indian airlines for the past few years. Pratt & Whitney has been quoted in Indian media as saying it has been affected by industry-wide supply chain pressures and that it expects those to ease later this year, which would support increased output of new and overhauled engines.
Go First, owned by the Wadia Group and formerly known as GoAir, also said on its website that it had cancelled flights scheduled for May 3 to May 5 due to “operational reasons”.
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