Lessors seek deregistration of 23 Go First planes to secure their assets

Lessors on Thursday urged the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to deregister 23 Go First aircraft to secure their assets before the insolvency process begins.

While lessors opposed Go First’s plea for grant of an interim moratorium in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), they moved swiftly to protect their planes. A moratorium ordered by the NCLT prohibits institution and continuation of suits and recovery of assets by owners and lessors.

The DGCA on Thursday evening put up a list of all deregistration requests received from lessors on its website. There is a laid down process under rules and the regulator is required to de-register the aircraft from the registry within five working days of receiving the application.

Go First has 54 Airbus aircraft in its fleet and 26 of them were in operation until Tuesday when the airline filed its insolvency application. At least 10 of the 20 aircraft that the lessors want deregistered were in service, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirrium.

Go First has blamed engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney for its woes and said recurring defects and non-availability of spare engines resulted in prolonged grounding of its aircraft and loss of revenue. Nearly half of its Airbus A320Neo fleet was grounded as of April, the airline said in its insolvency application.