Centre To Reallocate Go First's Hajj Flights To IndiGo, Saudi Airlines

The government has decided to re-allocate the Hajj flights that were to be operated by crisis-hit Go First from 10 Indian cities to IndiGo and two Saudi Arabian airlines, a senior official said on Thursday.

The decision comes against the backdrop of the uncertainty over cash-starved Go First, which has cancelled all flights since May 3. The budget airline's plea for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings has also been admitted by the National Company Law Tribunal.

After discussions in the wake of the Go First crisis, the civil aviation ministry has decided to reallocate the flights for the Hajj pilgrimage that was to be operated by the carrier.

Go First is scheduled to operate the flights from 10 embarkation points in different parts of the country and now those flights will be operated by IndiGo and two Saudi carriers -- Saudia and flyadeal, the official told PTI.

For this year's Hajj pilgrimage, the official said there will be a total of 22 embarkation points. Out of them, Go First was to operate from 10 embarkation points, SpiceJet from 4 points, Saudia from 2 points, Air India, Air India Express and Vistara from 2 points each, the official said.

Flights for Hajj pilgrims will commence later this month and will be on till the second week of July.

For this year, a quota of 1,75,025 Hajj pilgrims has been allotted to India. The annual pilgrimage will take place around June-end.

In February, the minority affairs ministry told the Lok Sabha that it had a number of interactive sessions on Hajj management with stakeholders, including the Hajj Committees of the states and Union Territories, wherein requests for restoration of the Haj quota were received.

The issue was addressed under the annual bilateral agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for Hajj 2023 and in spite of the challenges of COVID-19, the original Hajj quota of the country i.e. 1,75,025 has been restored for Hajj 2023, it had said.

The quota earmarked for the Hajj Committee of India (HCoI) under the Annual Bilateral Agreement is meant for pilgrims from various states and UTs for Haj 2023.

Uncertainty remains over the future of Go First. An Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) has been appointed by the NCLT to manage the affairs of Go First Airline under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) but some lessors have challenged the tribunal's ruling.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)