Germany carrier Germania has filed for insolvency – becoming the latest European carrier to go under – joining Primera Air, VLM Airlines, Small Planet Airlines, Sky Works, and Cobalt Air in ceasing operations in the last six months.
The carrier’s sister maintenance company Germania Technik Brandenburg and Germania Flugdienste have also filed for insolvency.
Germanina said flight operations were terminated in the night from 4 February to 5 February and its employees have been informed. Swiss airline Germania Flug and Bulgarian Eagle are not affected by this step.
The airline revealed late last year it needed short-term liquidity, mainly due to unforeseeable events such as massive increases in fuel prices last summer and the simultaneous weakening of the euro against the US dollar, considerable delays in phasing aircraft into the fleet and an unusually high number of maintenance events that the airline’s aircraft required were major burdens for the company.
Germania chief executive officer, Karsten Balke said: “Unfortunately, we were ultimately unable to bring our financing efforts to cover a short-term liquidity need to a positive conclusion. We very much regret that consequently, our only option was to file for insolvency. It is of course the impact that this step will have on our employees that we regret the most.
“All of them as a team always did their best to secure reliable and stable flight operations – even in the stressful weeks behind us. I would like to thank all of them from the bottom of my heart. I apologise to our passengers who now cannot take their Germania flight as planned.”
The airline said passengers affected by the suspension of flight operations who booked their Germania flight as part of a package holiday can contact their respective tour operator in order to organsze substitute carriage. For passengers who have booked directly with Germania, there is unfortunately no entitlement to substitute carriage.
