Jobaaj Stories
"Around 150 employees, including 30 pilots, 50 cabin crew members, and 50 ground handling and engineering employees, have put in their papers in the last two weeks," An executive from Go First Airline said to MoneyControl.
Reportedly, Go First was declared voluntarily bankrupt on 2 May. This Airline owned by the Wadia group stopped its operations and even applied insolvency resolution which stated a financial crunch that was a result of engine and spares absence in the planes.
In the same article by Money Control, Go First CEO Kaushik Khonasaid that Go First has burned about Rs. 200 Crores every Month since the last year and now it cannot afford this and they even have to file insolvency before the National Company Law Tribunal.
In the employee interaction which happened this August, Kaushik noted the many challenges the airline is facing in getting the funds from the bank. He highlighted that the airline wasn’t even able to get the 5 crores and 35 lahks from the Central Bank of India and IDBI etc.
Although he further mentioned that Go First was lucky enough to secure Rs 56 crore in the past few months despite zero operations, and that amount was used for insurance premiums and salary advances.
As per the source, Employees are not paid the salaries of the last three months when there had been promises of a quick restart and bonuses. At first few employees handed in their resignations but soon this increased as employee dissatisfaction has grown.
This even led some unpaid employees to head to the headquarters of Go First located in the Andheri East to seek the answers but Ajmera was not there.
Go First wants to resume its operations as soon as possible. In order to do so, The airline needs a minimum of 20 aircraft so that it can return back to the service of its passengers.
The airline is also known to have sought emergency funding of about Rs 100 crore from its lenders so that they may keep themselves afloat and to meet needed liabilities like insurance. According to Ajmera, the airline will use the funds to cover critical expenses.
In May, the airline filed a petition in a Delaware court in the United States, requesting the implementation of a directive issued by the Singapore International Arbitration Commission (SIAC) against Pratt & Whitney, the American aerospace manufacturer.
Accordingly, Go First can get back to full-scale operations in September 2023 if Pratt & Whitney facilitates engines to the airline as decided in an arbitration order.
Also, Read, Great Speeches by Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Leader of Bhartiya Janata Party
