GoAir sues former MD for allegedly stealing sensitive info, sharing with rival IndiGo: Report

Low-fare airline GoAir has reportedly sued former managing director Wolfgang Prock-Shauer who joined the rival airline IndiGo in February for allegedly sharing confidential information about the airline with its competitor.

GoAir reportedly submitted some papers in the Bombay HC on February 13, saying Wolfgang stole these papers and shared them with IndiGo, the country's largest airline, reported Mint. The report also says as per the agreement, Wolfgang was not supposed to "use and/or copy and/or publish and/or disclose any of the confidential information, trade secrets and/or know-how belonging to GoAir".

The report added the counsel representing Wolfgang, after scrutinising the documents on the condition that they will not be shared with anyone, told the court on April 27 that "during the last court hearing, we parted with the belief that the petitioners wanted to settle the case but now the company don't want to settle. If the company had indicated this earlier, we would have gone ahead with the matter."

The next hearing in the case is on June 15.

GoAir promoters were reportedly dissatisfied with Wolfgang's decision to start certain routes that didn't earn money. His hiring 35-40 expatriate pilots to command GoAir's new planes also did not go down well.

Before IndiGo, Wolfgang worked with Jet Airways (2003 to 2009), where he was the chief executive officer, where he presided over its fleet expansion from 40 planes to more than a hundred as well as its public listing and acquisition of Air Sahara. Before that, in his first job with Austrian Airlines, he oversaw its expansion from 20 planes to 100.

Since leaving Jet in 2009, he headed restructuring programmes at British Midlands and Air Berlin. He also headed two low-cost airlines - Bmibaby, a subsidiary of BMI (British Midlands), and Niki, a subsidiary of Air Berlin. Wolfgang is also credited with playing a crucial role in negotiations for GoAir's latest order of 72 Airbus A320neo planes and the shifting of terminals at the New Delhi airport.

Go Airlines is owned by the Wadia Group, and operates under the brand GoAir. In November 2005, GoAir launched its operations as a low-fare carrier to commoditise air travel and offer airline seats at a marginal premium to train fares across India. The airline currently operates over 230 daily flights and approximately 1,600 weekly flights across 23 destinations.

IndiGo is India's largest passenger airline with a market share of 39.5 per cent as of March 2018.