NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will conduct a special audit of GoFirst at Delhi and Mumbai Airports from July 4 to 6 to check its readiness to resume operations.
“After a preliminary review of the resumption plan submitted by GoFirst resolution professional (RP) on Wednesday, we have planned to conduct a special audit focused on safety-related aspects and continued compliance with the requirements to hold an air operator certificate, as well as on physical verification of the arrangements made for resumption of flight operations,” a senior regulatory official said.

Go First could become the first major Indian carrier to take to the skies again under India’s insolvency law — something Jet Airways has not been able to do so far — after suspending operations.

The airline’s resolution professional Shailendra Ajmera and former CEO Kaushik Khona had made a two-hour-long presentation to DGCA chief Vikram Dev Dutt on Wednesday after securing the committee of creditors’ nod for interim funding for Rs 450 crore. It plans to resume operations with 26 aircraft — 22 to be used and four to be kept standby — to 22 airports and 78 routes with nearly 160 daily flights.

The Dutt-led DGCA team had asked Go First to submit its plan formally at the earliest and the regulator will verify the airline’s claims.

“We will take a call on the restart plan after examining the condition of the aircraft they plan to use to ensure they can be used safely. We will see whether the airline has the required number of cockpit and cabin crew and other staff including engineering. All their claims will need to be checked closely as safety is paramount,” said sources.