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Insolvency-bound GoFirst is in fresh trouble with a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) audit across its aircraft at major airports finding gaps in maintenance. Sources said several maintenance work orders were open, and this could pose trouble for the airline as well as its lessors in the near future.
According to the source, aircraft “were not preserved properly and continuously”, as technicians and engineers were not reporting to work for the last two or three weeks.
According to an industry official: “On Monday and Tuesday, the DGCA carried out maintenance check for Go First’s aircraft at major airports, including its home base in Mumbai. This comes after the airline faced a financial and human capital crunch. The airline had not paid salaries for the months of June and July to its employees, following which it saw employees putting in papers.
The DGCA, Resolution Professional, and the company did not respond to queries by businessline. An industry source explained: “Aircraft need to be under continuous maintenance... any gap in maintenance may require extensive work, including a thorough inspection for the aircraft to be brought back under maintenance coverage. This can be very costly.”
In case of a gap in maintenance it may require repeated inspection of the engine for a certain period or even a shop visit for bearing inspection, which could cost millions of dollars.
“There is huge exposure to lessors even if aircraft are deregistered as they need to determine gaps in maintenance and pay for corrective action,” said the industry source.
On the other hand, the airline had been facing an acute cash crunch, for which they had sought a ₹100 crore emergency funding from bankers.
Out of the said amount, the company needs ₹3 crore on repairs and maintenance and ₹37 crore for salaries. The ground support staff employee health insurance is around ₹1.75 crore and TDS & provident fund dues are ₹20.50 crore.
The lenders have approved the said funding. Earlier, the Delhi High Court had asked the Resolution Professional to maintain the aircraft and the engines, while it allowed lessors to inspect the aircraft. According to recent reports, the lessors produced photographs stating that several parts were swapped or missing from aircraft. One of the lessors have filed a contempt petition in the Delhi HC against the RP for not providing a status report of the aircraft and engines.
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