With airline business booming, another carrier is going public to raise funds. Wadia Group promoted Go Airlines, which operates services under brand Go-Air, has appointed Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and Axis Capital to manage its initial public offering (IPO). Go Airlines is likely to raise Rs 2,500-Rs 3,000 crore through issue of fresh shares.
Last time an airline raised funds through IPO was in 2015 when Interglobe Aviation, promoters of Indigo, raised Rs 3,000 crore from the primary market. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, which handled the IndiGo IPO, couldn’t be contacted for further details on the proposed Go-Air offer.
Go-Air launched its operations in November 2005 as a low-fare carrier. The airline operates over 140 daily flights and approximately 975 weekly flights across 23 destinations. In May 2014, Go-Air achieved 81.8 per cent load factor, the second highest in the industry.
Most private Indian airlines are expanding their operations as air traffic has seen very high growth.
Go-Air operates with a fleet of 19 Airbus A320 and three Airbus A320 neo aircraft.
Go-Air is also adding new fuel-efficient aircraft to make the airlines more profitable. Pranav Haldea, managing director, Prime Database, a premier database on primary capital market, said, “The aviation sector is poised for expansion going forward with lot of initiatives taken by the government to improve connectivity. The airline has been in operation for more than 10 years and is a well-established player. Indigo had a good listing earlier in 2015, as long as there is a good pricing of the issue, there will be good response to the public issue.”
In the aviation sector now there is a peer group available with Interglobe Aviation, Jet Airways and Spicejet that are listed on the Indian stock exchanges. So far 2017 has been good for the primary market with successful listings of BSE, Avenue Supermarts and recent close of HUDCO.
