Acquisition Bid
Go First lenders seek written proposal from Busy Bee to buy airline
This story was originally published at 15:12 IST on 10 February 2025
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NEW DELHI – Busy Bee Airways Pvt. Ltd., a bidder for the grounded airline Go First, Monday informed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal that the committee of creditors has sought a written proposal from them for acquiring the airline as a going concern. Busy Bee Airways said they submitted a written proposal to the committee of creditors on Monday and requested the appellate tribunal to hear the case after one week, so that its proposal could be examined by the lenders. The appellate tribunal will hear the case next on Feb. 19.
On Jan. 31, Busy Bee Airways had said that it is still interested in acquiring the airline as a going concern and intends to engage with lenders to negotiate a deal. Busy Bee Airways said that Go First retains valuable assets, such as its Directorate General of Civil Aviation licence. Consequently, the appellate tribunal asked Busy Bee Airways to approach the committee of creditors with their request.
Busy Bee Airways had moved the appellate tribunal against an order by the Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on liquidation of Go First. Even the Bhartiya Kamgar Sena, a trade union in Mumbai, had expressed concern that 5,000 workers would be rendered jobless if the airline is liquidated. The union requested the court to instruct lenders to maintain Go First as a going concern until resolution of the airline's ongoing arbitration with Pratt & Whitney.
Go First filed for voluntary insolvency due to a financial crisis triggered by Pratt & Whitney's failure to supply engines, which led to the grounding of 28 out of its 56 aircraft. The airline owes over INR 65 billion to its lenders, with secured creditors, including INR 19.34 billion to Central Bank of India, INR 17.44 billion to Bank of Baroda, and INR 750 million to IDBI Bank. The National Company Law Tribunal had admitted the insolvency petition on May. 10, 2023.
Busy Bee Airways and SpiceJet Ltd.'s Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh had jointly submitted a bid to revive Go First. However, the airline's recovery plan suffered a setback due to the Delhi High Court's order regarding its leased aircraft. On Apr. 26, 2024, the court directed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to deregister 54 aircraft leased by Go First, prompting Busy Bee Airways to withdraw its bid.
On Sept. 3, the tribunal issued a notice to Go First's suspended management following a request from the resolution professional to liquidate the airline. On Jan. 20, the Delhi tribunal ordered the liquidation of Go First. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Nishant Maher
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