Looks like Arrow Air is finished with the vultures picking over the bones as revealed in the article below.
Arrow Air has laid off nearly a quarter of its workforce this week, but, in a proposal that may preserve some South Florida jobs, the majority owner of Fort Lauderdale cargo carrier Amerijet International agreed Wednesday to buy some of the Miami company's assets.
H.I.G. Capital has offered $13.5 million to purchase Arrow Air's name, aviation certificate, customer list, accounts receivable and one inoperable DC-8 aircraft, said Stearns Weaver Miller attorney Jonathan Vair, who represents Arrow Air.
''We're not necessarily thrilled about the offer, but it's the only one on the table right now,'' Vair said after Wednesday's bankruptcy hearing.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol approved $3 million for Arrow Air to continue operations. The debtor-in-possession financing is from H.I.G. and a group of lenders led by Bank of America.
Arrow Air, which filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 last Wednesday, made ''drastic employee cuts'' Tuesday, Chief Executive Frank Visconti told the judge. The company laid off 180 of its 750 employees as part of an ongoing effort to improve efficiency, he said.
The purchase -- which has not yet been approved by the court and is expected to be completed Feb. 23 -- is subject to higher and better offers. A higher offer would mean more money; a better offer would mean selling the cargo carrier as a going concern, Vair told the court. Other entities, including cargo carrier TradeWinds Airlines, have expressed interest in Arrow Air.
The purchase agreement, reached between the secured lenders and H.I.G. Capital, includes $2 million in debtor-in-possession financing, $8 million cash at closing and $3.5 million in a note. The bank group also put in $1 million in debtor-in-possession financing.
''We think it's the right move for Amerijet,'' said the company's chief executive, David Bassett.
Meanwhile, Arrow Air continues flying. Now at the height of the Valentine's Day flower shipping season, the carrier has been carting flowers from Ecuador and Colombia.
If Amerijet is successful at completing its asset purchase, it could offer jobs to some Arrow Air employees, Bassett said.
''We'll try to employ as many as we can, based on the business plan going forward,'' he said during a break in Wednesday's hearing. ``We're certainly going to need a lot of them.''