Lenders to India's Go First have set January 31 as the deadline for financial bids to acquire the airline, two banking sources said on Sunday.

Go First filed for bankruptcy protection in May but lenders have more recently been considering liquidating the airline after failing to secure new investors.

"Banks have decided to give the resolution process another go and allow those suitors who have shown prior interest a chance to submit a concrete bid," said a banker with a state-run bank that has exposure to Go First.

Indian carrier SpiceJet said last month that it was considering an offer for Go First after conducting due diligence.

Sharjah, UAE-based Sky One, Africa-focused Safrik Investments and US-based NS Aviation have also shown interest in Go First, the two sources said.

Sky One, Safrik Investments and NS Aviation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The second banker said the Committee of Creditors could also consider extending the month-end deadline at the request of a potential suitor.

Neither of the sources wished to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Go First's resolution professional, who conducts the insolvency process, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Go First's bankruptcy filing lists Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank and Deutsche Bank among creditors to which the carrier owes a total of Rs 6,521 crore.

Air fares

Emphasising that airfare is a function of supply and demand, full-service carrier Vistara's chief Vinod Kannan has expressed hope that ticket prices will come to the "right sweet spot where customers will travel and airlines can make money".

Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, currently, operates around 320 flights daily.

To a query on concerns in certain quarters about air ticket prices going irrationally high, the airline CEO said the thing with airfares is that people complain when it goes high and no one compliments when it goes down.

"There are times in the year due to seasonality...our fares in 2023 were even lower than 2022," he noted.

Kannan said that certain measures are in place to ensure that airfares are not irrational, especially when there are natural calamities or when something unfortunate happens.

Reuters & PTI