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Informist, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – Busy Bee Airways Pvt. Ltd., former bidder for debt-ridden Go First, on Tuesday informed the Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal that it will seek appropriate legal remedy as it intends to submit a resolution plan for Go First, after the liquidation order was passed on Monday. It withdrew its application seeking a recall of the earlier decision of the tribunal to reserve its judgment on liquidation of the airline.

 

The tribunal Monday had ordered the liquidation of debt-ridden Go First on an application filed by its resolution professional following the decision taken by the committee of creditors at its 37th meeting held in July last year. "As the CoC (committee of creditors) has not approved the resolution plans received by it on the ground that the plan do not comply with the mandatory requirements of the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016) nor are they commercially acceptable to them, the CoC members have decided for the liquidation of the Corporate Debtor (Go First)," the tribunal had noted on Monday.

 

The counsel for Busy Bee said their application has now become infructuous, and hence it moved the court seeking to allow them to withdraw their application. Accordingly, the tribunal allowed Busy Bee to withdraw their application and seek a remedy as per law. 

 

Go First had filed for voluntary insolvency in the face of a financial crunch due to non-supply of engines by Pratt & Whitney, which forced the airline to ground 28 of its 56 aircraft. Go First owes more than INR 65 billion to its lenders, with secured creditors Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank admitting claims of INR 19.34 billion, INR 17.44 billion, and INR 750 million, respectively. The insolvency petition was admitted by the National Company Law Tribunal on May 10, 2023. 

 

SpiceJet Ltd.'s Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh and Busy Bee Airways had jointly submitted a bid for Go First. Another bid was from a consortium of Sharjah-based aviation company Sky One FZE and Pramod Sharma. However, the revival process of the airline was derailed after a setback from the Delhi High Court regarding its leased aircraft. In a judgement on Apr. 26, 2024, the Delhi High Court had asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to de-register 54 aircraft leased by Go First to its lessors. Subsequently, Busy Bee withdrew its bid for Go First. 

 

On Sept. 3, the tribunal issued a notice to the suspended management of Go First on a plea by its resolution professional seeking liquidation of the airline. The counsel for the resolution professional had told the tribunal that the committee of creditors of the airline had passed a resolution seeking its liquidation as the plans received by them appeared to be non-compliant.

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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