Go First Insolvency: 10 Discontinued Airlines Of India From Past Decade - Jet Airways, Kingfisher And More

Go First Airline, a Wadia Group-owned low cost airline recently announced to file an application for insolvency resolution process with NCLT. The airline also cancelled its flights on May 3 and 4 initially, extending it to May 5, and again till May 9. Go First (formerly Go Air), blamed Pratt & Whitney, a US based jet engine maker for not providing desired engines on time, resulting in grounding of half of its Airbus A320 fleet. While DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation are actively following the updates on the matter, the fact remains that yet another major airline has decided to shut its business in India (at least till a solution is reached).

Not only Go First, but as per a report on PTI, one scheduled airline on an average has gone out of business every year since 1994, the year private airlines took to the skies nearly three decades ago. What's even more troublesome is that the airline as big as Go First has decided to file for bankruptcy at a time when the Indian aviation industry is at its peak, surpassing the pre Covid-19 era passenger traffic.

10 airlines to shut their business in the last decade:

1. Heritage Aviation Pvt Ltd - 2022

2. Zexus Air Services Pvt Ltd, which operated as Zoom Air - 2020

3. Deccan Chartered Pvt Ltd - 2020

4. Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd - 2020

5. Jet Airways - 2019

6. Jet Lite (formerly known as Sahara Airlines) - 2019

7. Air Pegasus Pvt Ltd - 2017

8. Religare Aviation Ltd - 2017

9. Air Carnival Pvt Ltd - 201

10. Kingfisher Airlines Ltd - 2012

The first private airline to go belly up was East West Travels & Trade Link Ltd, which shuttered operations after almost two years in November 1996. The same year, ModiLuft Ltd also went out of business. As per PTI, since 1994, at least 27 scheduled carriers have either been shuttered or have been acquired or merged with other carriers.

Prior to 2012, when Kingfisher Airlines went bankrupt and stopped flying, in 2008, they had acquired Deccan Aviation Pvt Ltd (Air Deccan), the airline founded by Captain Gopinath that was the pioneer of low-cost air travel in the country.

Aryan Cargo Express (2011), Paramount Airways (2010), MDLR Airlines Pvt Ltd (2009), Jagson Airlines Ltd (2008) and Indus Airways Pvt Ltd (2007) are among the other carriers that closed down as well. NEPC Micon Ltd and Skyline NEPC Ltd (formerly known as Damania Airways Ltd) shuttered operations in 1997. Lufthansa Cargo India Pvt Ltd stopped flying in 2000, as per the official data.

Go First Insolvency

Go First, which has been flying for more than 17 years, has filed for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings and cancelled all its flights till May 9, 2023. The airline is the second major scheduled carrier after Jet Airways that is likely to undergo resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Go First has sought various interim directions from the National Company Law Tribunal, including restraining lessors from taking back aircraft and regulator DGCA from taking any adverse action against the airline.

In its petition filed before NCLT, the budget airline has sought directions to restrain aircraft lessors from taking any recovery action as well as restrain the DGCA and suppliers of essential goods and services from initiating adverse actions.