Go First, which is facing a cash crunch and filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, has declared that it owes a total of ₹65.21 billion (Rs.6521 crore) to its financial creditors, according to its bankruptcy filing. The airline acknowledged that it has not defaulted on any of these payments as of April 30. However, given its current financial situation, it anticipates imminent defaults to its financial creditors.
Exposure of Banks
The list of Go First’s financial creditors include Central Bank of India Ltd, Bank of Baroda Ltd, IDBI Bank Ltd, Axis Bank Ltd and Deutsche Bank.
According to the bankruptcy filing, the Central Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have an exposure of ₹13 billion rupees each, under a consortium loan, while IDBI Bank has a smaller exposure of 500 million rupees. However, a Central Bank of India official informed Reuters that the bank’s total exposure to the airline is actually ₹20 billion rupees.
As per the filing, Axis Bank has provided a letter of sanction of credit to Go First, but it is unclear whether the airline has availed this credit.
Additionally, a CNBC report stated that Deutsche Bank has an exposure of ₹1320 crore to Go First, while Axis Bank’s exposure is ₹30 crore. Apart from bank loans, Go First has also borrowed ₹12.92 billion under the government’s emergency credit scheme, which was introduced during the Covid crisis.
Total liability of airlines
The airline’s total liabilities to all creditors amount to ₹114.63 billion, which includes dues to banks, financial institutions, vendors, and aircraft lessors. As per the bankruptcy filing, the company’s assets are currently insufficient to cover these liabilities. The airline has defaulted on payments to operational creditors, with dues of 12.02 billion rupees to vendors and 26.60 billion rupees to aircraft lessors.
The filing also stated that the company has received notices from lessors for the termination of aircraft lease agreements, and some have taken legal action to ground or repossess aircraft. In addition, six lessors have invoked letters of credit issued to them by lenders, as mentioned in the filing.