Bankrupt airline ordered to liquidate may find last-minute buyer

Creditors previously said that it "makes no sense to keep pumping in more money" into the airline.

Feb 18, 2025 - 15:30

Bankrupt airline ordered to liquidate may find last-minute buyer

Around since 2005 and at one point eying an initial public offering, low-cost Indian airline Go First had to file for bankruptcy protection in May 2023 and has remained grounded since.

After the airline failed to meet a deadline to take on its debt of 65.21 billion rupees (roughly $782 million USD), an Indian bankruptcy court ordered it to start liquidating assets to repay creditors last January.

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A Dubai-based budget airline may be the one to save Go First

A month after Go First was supposed to begin liquidation, Indian and Dubai-based media outlets reported that the airline could end up getting an eleventh-hour Hail Mary: fellow low-cost carriers FlyDubai and Busy Bee Airways are reportedly close to making an offer to buy it.

As part of the liquidation order, the judge panel overseeing the case on India's National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) said that Busy Bee had previously made an offer to buy Go First in March 2024 but was ultimately spooked to take on its heavy debt.

The new offer would see the regional airline, which is majority owned is EaseMyTrip travel platform founder Nishant Pitti, come together with UAE-based FlyDubai for a combined offer.

The deal would also allow the two airlines to acquire the strong brand — during its expansion period throughout the 2010s, Go First quickly established itself as a well-known name among Indians for both flying within the country and to popular vacation destinations like UAE and Thailand — and route rights while having liquidation of physical assets to cover debts to creditors.

*Before it declared bankruptcy 2023, Go First was a popular airline for Indian tourists traveling to UAE and Thailand.*
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'Aims to revive the airline's brand without purchasing its physical assets'

"Busy Bee, which first expressed interest in acquiring Go First in March 2024, aims to revive the airline's brand without purchasing its physical assets," reads a report from Indian outlet Business Standard. "The company is keen on acquiring Go First's trademarks, domestic flying rights, and digital assets, including its website."

One of the Go First creditors also told local outlet Moneycontrol that "the bidder is primarily focused on acquiring the brand associated with Go First rather than its assets."

More bankruptcy:

Prior to this proposal, another creditor anonymously told Indian media that it made "makes no sense to keep pumping in more money" into Go First even if demand for low-cost options within the country was high.

Sources who spoke to Indian outlets said that the two airlines are preparing to offer Go First Rs 1,000 crore (roughly 0.15 billion USD). With the proposal also needing to be approved by the NCLT, a hearing has been set for Feb. 19.

Over the last year, an alliance of British and United Arab Emirates businesses called Jalan Kalrock Consortium had also initially offered to put 3.50 billion rupees ($41.5 million USD) into saving Go First but constant delays and backtracking led the NCLT to rule that such a plan was "no longer capable of implementation" before ordering liquidation. The airline ran a fleet of exclusively Airbus A320 (EADSF) planes that, under the new proposal, would be sold off to cover debts.