French carrier Aigle Azur has filed for bankruptcy on Monday, but continues to fly for an unspecified “period”, the airline confirmed.
This follows recent disputes between Aigle Azur’s shareholders. After a minority shareholder attempted to take control of the carrier, it received a temporary administrator in late-August. The judicial administrator has now decided to take the “wisest action” for the airline and file for bankruptcy, French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Monday.
Chinese HNA Group, which holds minority and majority stakes in several airlines around the globe is currently Aigle Azur’s largest shareholder with 48%. Investor David Neeleman, famous for founding airlines including JetBlue, Azul and more, holds 32% in shares.
Aigle Azur has not issued a statement to explain the situation, but has assured passengers that most flights will continue to operate normally despite bankruptcy proceedings. However, its route between Paris Orly and Campinas (Sao Paulo) will be suspended on September 27th.
The 1946-founded carrier currently operates a fleet of seven Airbus A320 and two A330-200 long-haul aircraft. All airplanes are leased from a total of seven different leasing companies. Both Airbus A330 were previously operated by now-defunct German airline Air Berlin, before Aigle Azur took the aircraft over in mid-2018 to start long-haul flying.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
