Go First Insolvency Leads To Surge In Airfares; Demand For Bus Tickets On Rise On THESE Popular Routes

Go First, which is undergoing insolvency resolution proceedings, stopped flying from May 3. Further, aviation regulator DGCA had directed the cash-strapped airline to stop bookings till further orders.

New Delhi: After Go First Airlines filed for insolvency, there has been consequent increase in airfares by other airlines due to which bus bookings on shorter and popular routes have seen has a 7 fold jump in demand. According to Rohit Sharma, chief operating officer, AbhiBus, a bus booking platform, Go First’s top route i.e. Lucknow-Delhi has seen massive bookings recently.

“As the fares shot upwards of Rs 8,000 (for this route), buses with a starting price of Rs 399, going up to Rs 1,500 for premium buses like AC sleeper, saw a 7X jump starting May 5,” Sharma told moneycontrol.

According to Sharma, the maximum preferred length for bus journeys is 600-800 km, which can be covered overnight and the biggest shift by air travellers typically happened on these routes. “Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad-Bangalore, Chennai-Mumbai, Bangalore-Goa are the overnight journey routes that saw massive shifts,” he added.

Flight fares to Delhi-Bagdogra (West Bengal) soared and were more than Rs 10,000. Daily bus bookings on the Delhi-Jammu sector jumped to over 1,000.”We saw customers were booking (bus tickets for) Delhi-Patna and then Patna to Bagdogra. This entire trip cost less than 20 percent of the flight fare,” the publication quoted Sharma as saying.

He also said that growth in the highest absolute number of bookings was witnessed on the Mumbai-Goa route. “Customers love this route and we usually see 1,500 bookings on weekdays and over 2,000 bookings for weekends. On May 5, 6 and 7 (weekend), we saw a total of 9,000 bookings on the Mumbai-Goa route,” he told moneycontrol.

Go First Suspends flight operations till May 26

Crisis-hit Go First extended the suspension of flight operations till May 26, citing operational reasons and expressed hope that it will be able to resume bookings shortly.

Go First, which is undergoing insolvency resolution proceedings, stopped flying from May 3. Further, aviation regulator DGCA had directed the cash-strapped airline to stop bookings till further orders.

In an update on its website, the budget carrier, said that due to operational reasons, “flights until 26th May 2023 are cancelled”.

“A full refund will be issued to the original mode of payment shortly… as you are aware, the company has filed an application for immediate resolution and revival of operations. We will be able to resume bookings shortly,” it added.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the airline’s voluntary plea insolvency resolution proceedings on May 10. Abhilash Lal has been appointed as the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) to manage the affairs of the carrier.

Some lessors have also moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the NCLT’s decision.

Meanwhile, a claim management portal ‘gofirstclaims.in/claims’ has been launched for the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of Go First.