Sat, Nov 21 2009

Low-fare airline SkyEurope granted creditor protection

Mon, Jun 22 2009 14:00 CET byAlex Bivol 2446 Views 1 Comment
Low-fare airline SkyEurope granted creditor protection

SkyEurope country manager for Bulgaria Krassimir Tanev

Photo: Nadezhda Chipeva

Slovak-based low-fare airline SkyEurope said on June 22 that a Bratislava court granted it creditor protection while it restructures its debts, news agencies reported. It would not have an impact on the company's operations, with regular and chartered flights operations unaffected, reports said.

"There has been ongoing investor interest in SkyEurope and its business plan, although the company's debt has been a barrier," Reuters quoted a company statement as saying. "This period of reorganisation under creditor protection will give the company time to restructure its debt and become attractive for new equity investment."

Under Slovak law, companies have up to nine and half months to complete reorganisation under creditor protection, Associated Press said. "This is a good step for SkyEurope because it means we will be able to operate without any disruption while we implement reorganisation," the agency quoted SkyEurope chief executive Jason Bitter as saying.

Since it started operations in 2002, the low-fare airline has not reported profit once, but its losses were made worse by the global economic slowdown and declining traveller numbers worldwide. Its loss in the fiscal year ending in September 2008 was 19 million euro, up from 15.7 million euro the previous year.

SkyEurope operates flights between Sofia and Vienna, Brussels, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Venice. It also offers flights between Bourgas on the Black Sea coast and Vienna, Prague and Bratislava.

Comments

Anonymous Michael John Alexander Wed, Jul 01 2009 20:13 CET
Inappropriate comment?

SkyEurope also operates between Vienna and Athens (Greece); an important part of its network.

Anonymous Michael John Alexander Wed, Jul 01 2009 20:12 CET

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained .

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