The Wadias-owned Go First filed for voluntary insolvency proceedings on May 3. While the bankruptcy court has put a moratorium on the low-cost airline’s assets, including arrival and departure slots at airports, the government has allocated them as an interim measure till May 23, the date till when Go First has announced suspension of flights.
Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson told employees in a note on Friday that the airline was planning to quickly increase domestic flights to “fill the gap left by another airline’s curtailment of flights, (and) to minimise capacity, frequency and airfare disruptions to the public.”
The government allotted Go First’s slots following representations that airports will lose money if these stay unused, said people aware of the matter. Go First will get its slots back once it restarts flights, they said, in keeping with the National Company Law Tribunal order.
“Slots are national and finite resources, which, if left unused, are against the interest of both airlines and customers. Hence, the government has allotted them. These will be reverted to Go First as and when it resumes service,” said an official aware of the development, on condition of anonymity.
He said the government was concerned that if capacity is sucked out of the system at the peak of summer, it will lead to a further increase in fares.
Avoiding rise in airfares
Airfares are already higher this summer than in the previous season as carriers are unable to deploy full capacity. This is due to a supply chain constraint that has resulted in a slowdown of aircraft delivery.
Go First primarily had high frequency on leisure destinations such as Srinagar, Leh and Goa.
Data from Cirium show that according to the schedule filed by Go First for May, the airline was supposed to operate 199 flights from Delhi to Srinagar, 182 flights on the Delhi-Leh route and 156 flights from Mumbai to Goa. The airline also accounted for six of 30 non-stop flights on the Delhi-Srinagar and Mumbai-Goa routes, six of the 52 daily Delhi-Mumbai flights, five of the 13 Delhi-Leh flights and three of the 10 flights on the Delhi-Bagdogra route. Except Goa, all other destinations are currently in demand, according to industry executives. “Right now, there is demand for air travel as it is holiday time, and we do expect fares to go up in sectors where Go First was flying. If the capacity is not filled up, airfares will go up further,” said Jyoti Mayal, president, Travel Agents Association of India.
