Go First bankruptcy: Engine maker Pratt & Whitney hits back

“Pratt & Whitney is committed to the success of our airline customers, and we continue to prioritize delivery schedules for all customers. P&W is complying with the March 2023 arbitration ruling related to Go First. As this is now a matter of litigation, we will not comment further,” the P&W statement read.

Apart from filing for voluntary insolvency proceedings with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Go First also filed an emergency petition in a US court seeking enforcement of the an arbitration award by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).

The SIAC had directed P&W to dispatch at least 10 serviceable spare leased engines by April 27, and 10 spare leased engines per month till December. Go First on Tuesday said that P&W was refusing to comply with the SIAC’s directions. It added that if P&W had followed the SIAC’s directions, the airline would have been able to return to full operations by August or September, leading to its “financial rehabilitation and survival”.

The carrier accused P&W of failing to meet contractual obligations and refusing to abide by the SIAC award in the matter, adding that with more engine failures expected over the next three to four months, its operations would have become unviable.

The embattled airline said that it decided to file for bankruptcy following “the ever-increasing number of failing engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W) International Aero Engines”, which led to grounding of 25 planes, or half of its fleet of Airbus A320neo aircraft, and led to significant financial stress.

“Go First has been plagued by this issue (pertaining to snags with P&W engines) since January 2020 and in this period the percentage of grounded aircraft due to Pratt & Whitney’s faulty engines has grown from 7% in December 2019 to 31% in December 2020 to 50% in December 2022. This is despite several on-going commitments made by Pratt & Whitney over the years, which it has repeatedly failed to meet,” the airline said.

Go First said that as a result of P&W’s actions, some lessors repossessed aircraft and drew down letters of credit, apart from notifying further withdrawal of aircraft. “The culmination of these actions will result in a severe depletion in the number of aircraft available for Go First to operate going forward, thereby making it further unfeasible for Go First to continue its operation and meet its financial obligations,” the airline said.