A very sleazy shutdown of Jetsgo indeed, in my opinion. The media has interviewed customers who made on-line reservations as late as midnight on the night of the shutdown.
The statement from Michel Leblanc was issued in written form ... never any public appearance/interview. He's gone into seclusion, obviously unwilling to show his face. Would seem he has extracted as much money as he possibly could on the eve of a most busy travel week in Canada and then split before he had to waste a dime on actually providing a service.
Television showed work crews disassembling ticket counters and computer stations in the middle of the night. The only thing left for arriving passengers in the morning was a letter displayed for all to read. There were no Jetsgo Management/Supervisors on hand to deal with the naturally angry passengers. As I recall, when Canada 3 stopped flying "former" employees worked the counters trying to help their customers, quite aware they would not be paid for that most difficult of shifts.
Two lessons to be learned from this disaster, but only in my dreams do I think they could ever in fact happen ...
1: Passengers should wake up and realize that you don't get a safe, dependable, reliable airline flight for peanuts. (You might get a bus trip, but even that will likely cost more).
2: Pilots worldwide should turn away from Companies that want training bonds/cash/loans signed prior to starting work. They just aren't worth it in the long run.
And hopefully .... the industry has seen the last Mr. Michel Leblanc!
Sawbones