In the recent past, over 500 of the 600 Go First pilots have quit and joined other airlines including Air India and Indigo which have been expanding their operations aggressively, leaving Go First with only 100 pilots as of now.
New Delhi: The crisis within Go First continues even as the airline plans to resume flight operations as soon as possible. As per a report by CNBC-TV18, several employees have left the airline and joined elsewhere due to non-payment of salaries. The report also added that the airline hasn’t paid employees since May 2023 and as the revival takes longer, these employees are taking up jobs at other airlines.
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In the recent past, over 500 of the 600 Go First pilots have quit and joined other airlines including Air India and Indigo which have been expanding their operations aggressively, leaving Go First with only 100 pilots as of now.
What is most important to note here is that it is not just the pilots, Go First has also lost about 1,200 employees since July including cabin crew and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers due to non-payment of salaries.
The airline as on July 10 had 4,200 employees when it invited Expression Of Interest from potential buyers for the airline, but now the number has gone down to a little over 3,000 employees currently.
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And what is shocking to understand is that the employee count is expected to fall further to 2,400 or 2,500 by mid-September as 500 to 600 more employees have quit and are serving notice period.
Along with the salary issue, another reason for employees’ frustration is the lack of clarity on interim fund infusion that was to be done by the banks.
Earlier, lenders had committed to infuse Rs 450 crores as interim funding to restart operations, however, banks are now waiting for the outcome of the Delhi High Court’s ruling on the aircraft lessors matter.
As the aircraft remains important for the revival of the airline, it’s obvious for any investor to check if there will be adequate aircraft to restart and sustain operations. And this could also be one of the reasons why the airline has extended the deadline to receive Expression Of Interest by a month to September 8.
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The Civil Aviation Regulator DGCA had in July said it has approved Go First’s plan to restart operations with 15 aircraft and 114 daily flights with a host of conditions, including the availability of required interim funding.
Notably, the airline stopped the flight operations on May 3, 2023, and approached voluntarily for initiation of CIRP against it, as it was unable to fly due to technical difficulties faced by the non-availability of engines from Pratt & Whitney.
In the meantime, the airline has extended the cancellation of flights till August 21. However, the airline did not mention anything about the refunds which it had earlier indicated that a ‘full refund will be issued to the original mode of payment’. The cash-strapped airline has been grounded since it filed for insolvency at the beginning of May.
