GoAir rekindles IPO plan, to raise up to Rs 2,074 cr; budget carrier plans to add one aircraft per month

The Wadia Group-led GoAir has rekindled plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in order to raise funds. The airline, as part of the maiden offer, is scouting for advisors for the purpose, media reports said. GoAir plans to raise up to Rs 2,074 crore through the maiden offer, though the airline is yet to take a decision on the size of the issue as the discussions in this regard are at an initial level only, said a report in Moneycontrol quoting people in the know of the matter. In order to finalise the advisors for the IPO move, GoAir is also in discussions with investment banks like Citi and Morgan Stanley besides law firms, the report said. GoAir had mulled over an IPO  several times in the past, the last being in 2017, said a report in Mint. [caption id=“attachment_3093042” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Meanwhile, on Thursday, GoAir  inducted its 50th aircraft—an Airbus A320 Neo-and said it plans to add one aircraft per month going forward, a PTI report said. The Wadia group-run airline, which flew 13.55 lakh passengers in May, which is 11.1 percent of the total 122.07 lakh domestic passenger traffic in the month, also said it is on course to touch the 100-million-passenger-mark over the next two years. With this, the airline has doubled its fleet size in less than two years. In November 2017 it had just 25 planes in its fleet. The airline currently operates 270 daily flights connecting 24 domestic and four international destinations. “In 2016, we looked at an aggressive business strategy. That year we doubled our Airbus A320 aircraft order to 144 to accelerate our growth and at the same time staying profitable. Those goals continue to be our guiding principle from a business perspective,” Jeh Wadia, managing director, and acting chief executive was quoted as in a statement. Early this month, airline consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) had said that three leading Indian low-cost carriers (LCCs) including GoAir might report record profits in 2019-20, reported PTI. The combined fleet size of Indian LCCs is expected to cross 500 aircraft this year, CAPA said. Overall, the domestic traffic growth will be “muted”, with full-year traffic growth expected to be below five percent year-on-year, it said.