Delhi High Court Allows Go First Lessors Access To Airworthiness Documents

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the Resolution Professional of Go First to allow the lessors to have access to all the documents that ascertain the airworthiness of the leased aircraft in a period of seven days.

The high court bench, comprising Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju, also ordered that the security officials appointed by the Go First lessors should be allowed to access the aircraft. Additionally, the court said that access should be permitted even by the Bureau of Civil Aviation through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

In May, Go First initiated a request for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal. The airline has attributed its financial distress to issues with Pratt and Whitney's "defective and failing engines".

The proportion of grounded aircraft resulting from Pratt and Whitney's problematic engines had steadily increased, rising from 7% in December 2019 to 31% in December 2020 and peaking at 50% in December 2022.

On May 22, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal upheld the decision of the NCLT that had admitted Go First into insolvency. The appellate tribunal had also given the lessors the opportunity to move to the NCLT with any relevant applications in the matter.

However, several lessors—including Accipiter Holdings, Pembroke Aircraft, SFV Aircraft Holdings, ACG Aircraft Leasing, EOS Aviation 12, SMBC Aviation Capital, and DAE SY 22 13 Ireland, among others—approached the high court.