Mack Star files legal notice to GoFirst alleging default

Realtor Mack Star Marketing has sent a legal notice to low-fare carrier Go First for not paying dues worth INR 2.6 crore. 
  This is for a property called Kaledonia in Andheri, suburban Mumbai. Go Airlines which brands itself Go First and Mack Star entered into a leave and licensing agreement in 2018.
     The agreement was renewed earlier this year. A person in the know said the airline had been late in paying its rent since March this year. It hasn’t been paid since June. “The company has given the airline a notice to clear its dues in 10 days or vacate the premises in a month,” said the person in the know.
    A spokesperson at Go First didn’t respond to text queries until the story went to press. The airline, like its peers, has been hit by the pandemic which battered airline demand and has been trying to raise funds. It had mulled an IPO earlier this year but hasn’t gone ahead with its plans yet.
  Wadia group-owned Go First has once again deferred its initial public offering (IPO) to raise INR 3,600 crore till November on weak consumer sentiment surrounding aviation stocks.
    Go First has been advised to wait for the new ATF pricing mechanism to kick in before launching its IPO. The new ATF pricing mechanism is expected to boost sentiment in the aviation sector. The airline had planned to come out with its delayed IPO in the second quarter of this financial year, but will now wait for a couple of months before considering a launch.
   Go First plans to use INR 2,200 crore to be raised from the IPO to reduce debt and repay lessors. The remaining INR 1,600 crore will be deployed to expand the airline’s operations in India and internationally, including adding flights to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.
The airline expects domestic passenger traffic to surpass pre-COVID-19 levels by 5-10% by the second quarter of 2022-23 in the absence of a new wave of COVID-19.

-B