Go First Update: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has told the Delhi High Court that applications for deregistration of several aircraft lessees of cash-strapped GoFirst airline were shown as such on its portal due to a technical glitch. rejected.
On 26 May, the aircraft lessees – Pembroke Aircraft Leasing 11 Ltd, SMBC Aviation Capital Ltd, Accipiter Investments Aircraft 2 Ltd and EOS Aviation 12 (Ireland) Ltd – sought to de-register their aircraft currently on lease with GoFirst. While doing this, the High Court had moved. ,
In a major blow to its passengers, the low-cost airline stopped flying on May 3 and is undergoing voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The DGCA said it was not processing such requests following the financial obligations of the troubled airline following the insolvency resolution process and the moratorium on transfer of assets.
“Why the difference? There are 7-8 petitions and each of them has a different response. Why so?” Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju asked the aviation regulator’s counsel Anjana Gosain as to why different responses were sent to different lessors on the request for possession.
The court further asked the counsel to produce documents in respect of each petitioner lessee when it will next take up the matter on June 1. Gossain informed the court that when lessees send a request for cancellation of registration to the regulator, it is done in five working days and that in this case, no application has been rejected.
“There was a glitch in the portal which showed that the applications were rejected,” he said.
“He applied on the portal on May 4. Unfortunately, a glitch occurred. When they opened on May 12, it rejected him,” she submitted.
Gossain told the court, “Will place the complete list of 54 applications, including those of the petitioners and others.”
During the last hearing, the lessees had said that the DGCA’s refusal to cancel the registration was ‘illegal’. The lessors argue that GoFirst has no right to use their aircraft because the leases relating to them have expired.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal upheld bankruptcy proceedings against GoFirst on 22 May, dealing a blow to its lessors’ efforts to retrieve their aircraft.
Upholding the NCLT’s May 10 order, the appellate tribunal disposed of the lessees’ plea and asked them to file an appeal before the NCLT. The airline had approached the NCLT “due to the ever-increasing number of failed engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney’s International Aero Engines”, which resulted in GoFirst (airline brand) grounding 25 aircraft (equivalent to nearly 50 per cent of its ) Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet) by May 1, 2023″.
According to the counsel for the lessees, they had approached the civil aviation authorities to cancel the registration of their aircraft, but the request was denied. They said that the DGCA had not contacted them, but after checking the status of their applications on the regulator’s website, they found that their petitions had been rejected.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the lessees, had submitted that the aircraft was his property and an interim resolution professional (IRP) has no power to take possession of any third party property. Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, representing EOS Aviation 12 (Ireland) Ltd, had submitted that the NCLAT cannot deal with the issue of deregistration of the aircraft and the remedy lies under Article 226 of the Constitution as the issue is between the lessor and the DGCA.
“The percentage of grounded aircraft due to Pratt & Whitney’s faulty engines has increased from 7 percent in December 2019 to 31 percent in December 2020 to 50 percent in December 2022. This is despite several assurances by Pratt & Whitney over the years . . , which it has repeatedly failed to meet,” Go Airlines had said.
According to Go Airlines, it was forced to apply to the NCLT after Pratt & Whitney, the exclusive engine supplier for the Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet, refused to comply with an award issued by an emergency arbitrator appointed as per the arbitration rules of 2016. Was. Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC).
The respondents in this case include the Union of India and the DGCA.
(With IANS inputs)
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