Imperiled Air-Carrier’s CEO Blames Pratt & Whitney

Go First Airlines was an Indian ultra-low-cost airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company was owned by the Indian business conglomerate Wadia Group.

The air-carrier commenced operations on 04 November 2005 and operated a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft in an all economy configuration. In October 2017, Go First was India’s fifth-largest airline, commanding an 8.4-percent passenger market share.

In March 2020, the airline operated over 330 daily flights to 27 Indian domestic and nine international destinations from its bases at Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Kannur.

On 03 May 2023, Go First ceased operations and filed an application for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Go First CEO Kaushik Khona ascribed blame for his company’s woes to U.S.-based engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, stating Go First was “forced to apply to the NCLT” in the wake of an “ever-increasing number of failing engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney.”

Go First’s fleet comprised Airbus A320neo narrow-body jets exclusively. Subject model is powered by Pratt and Whitney’s PW-1100G Geared-TurboFan (GTF) engine—a highly complex powerplant plagued, to date, by design and functionality issues.

Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes intimated that up to five-years are likely to pass before the reliability of Pratt & Whitney’s geared-turbofan NEO (New Engine Option) engines equals that of the engine-maker’s CEO (Current Engine Option) models, by which older iterations of the A320 were powered.

Raytheon is Pratt & Whitney’s parent company.

The engine failures to which Mr. Khona referred allegedly resulted in the grounding of 25 of the Go First’s 53 Airbus A320neo narrow-body airliners and occasioned major financial losses.

Notwithstanding the grounding of half its fleet, Go First remained obligated to pay one-hundred-percent of its fixed costs, to include over $200-million in aircraft lease payments to its lessors, aircraft parts and maintenance expenses, parking charges, and employee salaries and benefits.

Seeking remedy, Go First petitioned Singapore’s International Arbitration Centre, which ultimately rendered a decision in favor of the airline—ordering Pratt & Whitney to dispatch at least ten serviceable spare engines within 28 days and a further ten engines every month until the end of 2023. In a statement, the arbitrator set forth Go First urgently required the engines to reduce the number of aircraft on the ground. The arbitrator opined Go First would suffer irreparable harm were emergency relief not rendered.

Pratt & Whitney, however, provided Go First only three replacement engines, compelling the airline to file an application seeking enforcement of the arbitrator’s decision with the U.S. District Court of Delaware.

In its plea, Go First declared: “If P&W does not immediately comply with the arbitration award, there is a significant risk that the company will go out of business and be forced to declare bankruptcy.”

Speaking at Barclays investor conference in February 2023, aforementioned Raytheon CEO Gregory Hayes tacitly acknowledged Go First’s grievances, stating: “Our customers are not particularly happy with the fact that we can’t get engines to them in time because of the large numbers that are coming in for all of these retrofits.”

FMI: www.flygofirst.com