Go First insolvency: NCLT issues notice in plea by Jackson Aviation

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), on Monday, issued a notice in a plea by one of the lessors of Go First, Jackson Aviation, seeking the status of aircraft whose lease was terminated before the moratorium. 

The tribunal directed the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) to file the response within a week.

The case will next be heard on June 15.

Jackson Square Aviation was among several lessors that had raised an alarm after the tribunal gave Go First bankruptcy protection to allow it to revive itself but barred lessors from repossessing planes.

The IRP had last month argued in the NCLT that returning aircraft to the lessors will render the crisis-hit Go First, which has 7,000 employees to look after, "dead".

The airline had earlier cancelled its operations till June 4.

Earlier this month, the IRP had also reportedly submitted a six-month revival plan of Go First to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The IRP informed DGCA that the airline is ready to resume its operations with 26 operational aircraft and 400 pilots on its roll.

Once Go First's revival plan is approved by the aviation regulator, the airline said it will be able to deploy two aircraft to start Delhi-Srinagar and Delhi-Leh chartered flights immediately. Within the next few days, it will be able to resume scheduled services, mainly on the Pune, Bagdogra, and Goa routes. According to Financial Express, the airline has said it will be able to deploy eight to ten aircraft for the scheduled services.

The carrier has also offered a monthly retention allowance of Rs Rs 100,000 to captains and Rs 50,000 to first officers. Currently, the monthly average salary of captains is Rs 530,000.