Here's a bit of a follow-up to the rebranding of Helios from today's Cyprus Mail Internet edition:
Libra: Ajet plan will not affect our finances
By Jean Christou
LIBRA Holidays Group (LHG) yesterday sought to assure shareholders that the creation of a new airline Ajet and the reassigning of Helios Airways aircraft to the new charter company would have not affect the group’s financial situation.
“In any case, this issue involves in-house restructuring of two wholly owned subsidiaries of the Group and has no financial consequences to the Group whatsoever,” an LHG announcement to the Cyprus Stock Exchange said yesterday.
LHG said that due to the serious problems that Helios Airways encountered just after the tragic air accident in August 2005, in which 121 people lost their lives, “Helios considered to pass its operations to Ajet Airways Ltd ('ajet') which was registered on January 20, 2006 and is owned 100 per cent by Libra Holidays Group Public Ltd,” the company said.
It said that under the presumption that all necessary approvals and consents were issued by the relevant authorities, the lease agreements of the aircraft operated by Helios would be reassigned to Ajet, which will operate basically as charter flight airline.
”Due to the presumption as aforesaid, there has been no announcement yet since the Libra Holidays Group waited to first obtain the said licences and just then to proceed with the related announcement,” LHG said.
The Helios crash cost Libra at least £5 million plus another £18 million the group wrote off in goodwill as a result of the accident, which resulted in group losses up until the end of October 2005 of £23.69 million compared to a profit of £2.58 million in the same period in 2004.
In relation to the £5 million Helios loss, LHG, one of the biggest UK-based tour operators said it was contemplating suing third parties.
Helios will remain as a company and a subsidiary of Libra to pursue the claims and also to support the investigating committee into the crash.
The Civil Aviation Department said on Monday it had received the application for a licence from Ajet and that both the technical and legal aspects were being examined.
Results of the Helios crash investigation are not due out at least until the end of April.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005
Keep in mind that the investigation report is due at the end of June, not April. Helios and Libra have been sued in the U.S. courts, but I don't know if they have filed an Answer yet, of if they intend to.