Delhi High Court Directs DGCA To De-Register 54 Go First Aircraft

In a setback to Go First, the Delhi High Court has directed the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to begin the process of de-registration of aircraft leased to the bankrupt airline.

The matter was heard by a bench comprising of Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju. During the hearing, the court disposed the batch of pleas by the lessors and directed the DGCA to process the the deregistration applications filed by these lessors.

The lessors involved in the case are - Pembroke Aircraft Leasing 11 Limited, SMBC Aviation Capital Limited, Accipiter Investments Aircraft 2 Limited and EOS Aviation 12 (Ireland Limited), DAE SY 22 13 Ireland Designated Activity Company, SFV Aircraft Holdings Ire 9 DAC Limited, ACG Aircraft Leasing and GY Aviation Lease 1722 Co Limited.

The lessors had filed a writ with the Delhi High Court in may 2023 and sought for urgent directions to release the planes leased to Go First.

As per reports, the court also prohibited the Resolution Professional of Go Air and Go First from "accessing or entering or in any manner operating or flying any of the aircrafts".

The RP and Go Air have also been stopped from removing, replace or taking out any spare parts, accessories, documents, material and more from the plane.

What Is The Go First Crisis?

On May 2, 2023, Go First, which is owned by the Wadia group - filed for voluntary insolvency. The airline claimed that the insolvency had been filed due to the financial troubles being caused by fault engines provided by Pratt & Whitney, a US-based company.

The private airline also sued Pratt & Whitney in a US federal court and sought for the supply of engines as contracted. Pratt & Whitney, however, disputed these claimed.

The National Company Law Tribunal accepted the airlines insolvency plea on May 10, which confirmed the suspension of the airline.