Go First CEO Kaushik Khona steps down

1 Dec 2023 , 01:13 PM

Go First CEO Kaushik Khona resigned on Thursday after the airline was unable to find a buyer to bring the company back to life. The Wadia group’s airline has been suspended since May after declaring voluntary bankruptcy.

While Jindal Power had submitted an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the airline, it did not proceed with a financial bid after the government issued a notice on 3 October saying that aircraft and engines were exempt from a moratorium under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), allowing lessors to repossess them.

Following that, the Jindals saw little value in an airline that lacked key assets such as planes.

Shailednra Amera, a court-appointed resolution specialist, informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that the firm had spent the money given by the Committee of Creditors and was grappling with a paucity of labour and budgetary restrictions. Bank of Baroda and Central Bank of India, the two primary lenders for the grounded airline, have provided temporary funding of Rs 100 crore.

Khona later blamed the airline’s demise on problems with Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan engine, claiming that it was difficult to produce income with more than half of its fleet grounded.

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