Data provided by aviation analytics firm Cirium shows that Go First had high frequency on leisure destinations like Srinagar, Leh and Goa. Air fares to these destinations are already high as it is peak summer travel season in India.
“Right now there is demand for air travel as it is holiday time and we do expect fares going up in sectors Go First was flying,” said Jyoti Mayal, president of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). “In the coming weeks, fares are likely to go up as the routes are in high demand.” On Tuesday, the Wadia family-owned airline filed for voluntary insolvency proceedings before the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), attributing the decision to protracted delays in sourcing airworthy engines from Pratt & Whitney (PW).
Simultaneously, the airline has filed a lawsuit against the US-based engine maker in a Delaware federal court, seeking enforcement of an arbitration award that directed PW to provide the airline with engines, failing which there is a risk of the carrier shutting down.
The arbitration award on March 31, given in favour of Go First by Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), directed PW to dispatch without delay at least 10 serviceable spare leased engines by April 27, and a further 10 spare leased engines per month until December.
Data from Cirium shows that as per the schedule filed by Go First for the month of May, it was to operate 199 flights from Delhi to Srinagar, 182 flights from Delhi to Leh, and 156 flights on the Mumbai-Goa route. The airline also accounts for six of the about 30 non-stops flights on the Delhi-Srinagar and Mumbai-Goa routes, six of the 52 daily flights on the Delhi-Mumbai route, five of 13 on the Delhi-Leh route, and three of 10 on the Delhi-Bagdogra route.
This is the peak summer travel season and, except for Goa, all the other destinations are in demand.”With few seats available, they will go at the highest levels, which could be up to 20% higher than current fares,” an airline executive said.
However, others pointed out that rival airlines like IndiGo and Air India will deploy sufficient capacity on these routes. “Fares may rise in the short term, but will moderate with addition of capacity by other airlines. Go First was virtually operating at less than 30% capacity and it will not be difficult for the industry to fill that space,” another airline executive said.
