Go First’s CEO Kaushik Khona has informed staff that the recurrent Pratt & Whitney engine issues have rendered the airline inoperable, and reaffirmed that the carrier is making every effort to handle the situation with the utmost care and concern for all employees.
The no-frills airline has requested voluntary insolvency proceedings and suspended all operations for three days beginning on Wednesday. Khona alleged that Pratt & Whitney’s failure to provide engines has caused a terrible crisis in a message to staff members late on Tuesday.
The airline’s management has been attempting to persuade P&W to provide spare engines and repair engines for more than a year. The CEO added that P&W moved Emergency Arbitration to Singapore but has been stalling the discussions.
The arbitrator reportedly ordered P&W to provide at least 10 functional spare leased engines by April 27, and an additional 10 functional spare-leased engines per month until December 2023, according to the airline.
“With that, the airline would have had all its A320 neo aircraft operational by August/ September 2023… unfortunately, Pratt & Whitney has chosen to defy the order from the Emergency Arbitrator,” Khona said in the message. The airline approached the arbitrator, who reinforced the order and since P&W “chose to defy for the second time”, it filed enforcement proceedings at a US court seeking implementation of the order,” he added.
Due to engine issues, more than half of the airline’s fleet is grounded. Khona claimed that due to the airline’s lowered fleet size, lessors are using coercive measures against them, including letters of credit, grounding notices, and demands for the return of aircraft, to prevent them from being paid.
“…The company has been crippled by the recurring Pratt & Whitney engine troubles. Pratt & Whitney’s defiance in not supplying spare engines as instructed by the Emergency Arbitrator has ground your company to a halt,” he told the staff.
In light of this, Khona stated that the only other course of action was to file for voluntary insolvency resolution procedures in order to maintain the company’s operations.
Addressing the employees as “Go Getters”, the CEO said, “We want to reassure you that we are doing everything possible to navigate this situation with the utmost care and concern for all employees”.
“I am hopeful that once the application under section 10 of IBC for interim relief is considered, we will be in a better position to update you with a further action plan, as and when we receive orders from NCLT,” he added.
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