Go First, founded as GoAir, is an Indian
ultra-low-cost airline based in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
. It is owned by the Indian business conglomerate
Wadia Group
Wadia Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. It was founded by Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia in 1736 and is the oldest company in India, with its subsidiary The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited, establis ...
. In October 2017, it was the fifth largest
airline in India with an 8.4% passenger market share. It commenced operations on 4 November 2005 and operates a fleet of
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus.
The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...
aircraft in an all economy configuration.
In March 2020, the airline operated over 330 daily flights to 36 destinations, including 27 domestic and nine international destinations, from its bases at
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
,
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
,
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
and
Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...
, and
Kannur
Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...
.
The airline is planning to launch an IPO to raise Rs 36 billion from the primary market and has filed a DRHP for the same with Indian stock market regulator SEBI.
History
Go First was founded as GoAir on 4 November 2005 by
Jeh Wadia
Jehangir Nusli Wadia (born 6 July 1973), also known as Jeh Wadia, is an Indian businessman, who was the Managing Director of Go First, Bombay Dyeing and Bombay Realty. He was also a Director on the Boards of Britannia Industries, The Bombay Burma ...
, son of Indian industrialist
Nusli Wadia
Nusli Wadia (born 15 February 1944) is an Indian billionaire businessman and the chairman of the Wadia Group, an Indian conglomerate involved in the FMCG, textiles and real estate industries among others. His net worth was estimated at US$4.1 b ...
. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Wadia Group
Wadia Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. It was founded by Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia in 1736 and is the oldest company in India, with its subsidiary The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited, establis ...
.
GoAir commenced its operations using an
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus.
The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...
aircraft and operated its inaugural flight from
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
to
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
on 4 November 2005.
The airline initially operated with a single aircraft to four destinations including
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
and
Coimbatore
Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...
with plans to induct 36 aircraft by 2008. In March 2008, the airline announced revised plans to operate 11 aircraft and service new destinations in
North East and
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
by the end of the year. Increasing fuel prices forced Go First to cut down the existing number of flights in June 2008.
In January 2009,
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
was interested in buying a stake in the airline. In November 2009, GoAir entered into talks with Indian airline
SpiceJet
SpiceJet is an Indian budget airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It is the second largest airline in the country by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2019. The airline operates 630 daily fli ...
over a possible merger which ended in a no deal. In April 2012, GoAir became the fifth largest airline in India in terms of market share following the demise of
Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines Limited was an airline group based in India. It was established in 2003 and started its commercial operations in 2005. Through its parent company United Breweries Group, it had a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red. ...
. In 2013, the airline appointed investment bank
JP Morgan
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the wo ...
to scout for potential investors. The airline's growth has been slow compared to other airlines established at the same time such as
IndiGo
Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...
and SpiceJet, which have larger market share, fleet size and destinations served as of 2016.
According to the airline, it is a planned strategy due to the tough aviation environment in India and to focus on maintaining profitability rather than on capturing market share and increasing the destinations and fleet size.
As of February 2016, it was the fifth largest carrier in the country with an 8% market share. The airline is planning for an
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
(IPO) in 2020. The airline took delivery of its 20th aircraft in June 2016, making it eligible to operate international flights.
GoAir became the sixth Indian domestic carrier to fly international when it launched its inaugural flight to Phuket from New Delhi on 11 October 2018.
On 17 March 2020, due to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, GoAir suspended its international flights. On 13 May 2021, GoAir was rebranded as Go First.
Corporate affairs
![GoAir Airbus A320](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/GoAir_Airbus_A320.jpg)
The airline is headquartered in the Wadia International Centre in
Worli
Worli (ISO: ''Varaḷī'', əɾ(ə)ɭiː is a locality in South Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other being Colaba, Bandra and Malabar Hill. The sea connects it with Bandra
via the Band ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, India.
Jehangir Wadia
Jehangir Nusli Wadia (born 6 July 1973), also known as Jeh Wadia, is an Indian businessman, who was the Managing Director of Go First, Bombay Dyeing and Bombay Realty. He was also a Director on the Boards of Britannia Industries, The Bombay Bu ...
served as the managing director of the airline since its inception until his resignation in 2021.
Kaushik Khona is the CEO of Go First.
Destinations
In March 2020, Go First operated to a network of 39 destinations – 29 domestic and 10 international to
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
(
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
and
Phuket
Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands of ...
),
Muscat
Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...
,
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
and
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
,
Kuwait City
Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
and
Malé
Malé (, ; dv, މާލެ) is the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. With a population of 252,768 and an area of , it is also one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city is geographically located at the southern ...
. As of now, Go First operates international flights from
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Bengaluru
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
,
Kannur
Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...
and
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
. The airline has a total of 325 daily flights and more than 2200 weekly flights.
The airline maintains bases at Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Kannur and Mumbai airports.
The airline commenced its first international operations on 11 October 2018 from Delhi to Phuket, then from Mumbai to Phuket on 12 October, from Mumbai and Delhi to Malé on 14 and 17 October respectively.
Fleet
![GoAir Airbus A320 Neo Aircraft](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/GoAir_Airbus_A320_Neo_Aircraft.png)
, Go First operates an all
Airbus A320 fleet:
[Airbus Orders and Deliveries (XLS), monthly updated, accessed via ]
New orders
In June 2011, Go First placed an order for 72
Airbus A320neo aircraft worth . Deliveries began from 2016, with an induction rate of 12–15 aircraft per year.
In December 2015,
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
intimated that the deliveries will be delayed by three months due to technical issues and the aircraft will be delivered by the second quarter of financial year 2015–16. Go First received its first A320neo aircraft on 1 June 2016.
In July 2016, Go First signed a memorandum of understanding with
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
for 72
Airbus A320neo aircraft valued at , potentially taking the total number of orders to 144. This deal was announced at
Farnborough Airshow
The Farnborough Airshow, officially the Farnborough International Airshow, is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors. Since its fir ...
.
Services
Being a budget airline, Go First does not provide complimentary meals on its flights but offers options for
buy on board
Buy may refer to a trade, i.e., an exchange of goods and services via bartering or a monetary purchase.
The term may also refer to:
Places
* Buy (inhabited locality), any of several inhabited localities in Russia
* Burlington-Alamance Regional A ...
in-flight meals. The airline publishes an
in-flight magazine
An inflight magazine (or in-flight magazine) is a free magazine distributed via the seats of an airplane, by an airline company, or in an airport lounge.
Overview
Many airline companies, or a few key content creating companies, produce in-fligh ...
named ''Go-getter''. Go First offers a premium service known as ''Go Business'' at a higher fare which provides extra services including seats with greater legroom, free meals, increased baggage allowance and priority boarding. In 2011, the airline launched its
frequent flyer programme
A frequent-flyer program (American English) or frequent-flyer programme (British English) is a loyalty program offered by an airline.
Many airlines have frequent-flyer programs designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the program ...
called ''Go Club'', which provided benefits such as lounge access and free upgrade to ''Go Business''. New membership was discontinued in February 2014.
Awards
Go First was rated as the "Best Domestic Airline For Excellence in Quality and Efficient Service" by Pacific Area Travel Writers Association in 2008. The airline was named the "Best Performing Airline" in Asia and Africa of all Airbus A320 operators by
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
in 2011 based on fleet utilization and other performance metrics.
See also
*
List of airlines of India
This is a list of airlines which have an air operator's certificate issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India.
Scheduled airlines
Currently, 9 scheduled airlines are operating in India.
Regional airlines
Charter a ...
*
Transport in India
Transport in India consists of transport by land, water and air. Road transport is the primary mode of transport for most Indian citizens, and India's road transport systems are among the most heavily used in the world.
India's road network ...
References
External links
*
{{Airlines of India
Airlines established in 2005
Airlines of India
Companies based in Mumbai
Indian companies established in 2005
Low-cost carriers
Wadia Group
2005 establishments in Maharashtra