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Atlasjet suspends bailout plan with Turkish Cypriot Airlines [ WORLD BULLETIN- TURKEY NEWS, WORLD NEWS ]
Atlasjet suspends bailout plan with Turkish Cypriot Airlines
Atlasjet said in a statement that the bail out plan was bound to fail as administrators and staff was not fully cooperating.
Friday, 25 June 2010 15:22
Atlasjet, an airlines company from Turkey said its suspended partnership talks with Turkish Cypriot Airlines (KTHY), the financially troubled national aircarrier of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Atlasjet said in a statement that the bail out plan was bound to fail as administrators and staff was not fully cooperating.
It said as soon as they reached an agreement for partnership they initiated works to manage and structure the 100 million USD debt of the company, noting however that KTHY personnel was not cooperating and allowing Atlasjet to access documents and info on the debts of the company.
The company said even though the operating license of KTHY was suspended by the Northern Cyprus Civil Aviation Authority for three months, they took all risks on a bid to rescue the airline company, adding that they had no choice but to suspend the partnership talks as the administrators and the personnel of the company refused to cooperate.
Meanwhile Acting Director General of KTHY Selim Altincik resigned earlier today.
The civil aviation authority of the TRNC has suspended all flights conducted by KTHY and suspended its operation certificate last Tuesday.
KTHY is reported to owe nearly 40 million USD to the Turkish Cypriot Civil Aviation Department.
Following the suspension of flights, Hava-Sen, Union of Workers of the Turkish Cypriot Air Carrier, had started a strike at Ercan Airport.
Following long-running financial problems and growing debts, now around 100 million USD, Turkish Cypriot government decided to call for bids last month to find a partner to KTHY.
Turkish Cypriot government held talks with two Turkish airlines companies, Atlasjet and Pegasus, and finally on Tuesday it agreed with Atlasjet on a 50-50 profit sharing for five years.
Under the agreement which was scheduled to be signed between Turkish Cypriot government and Atlasjet today, Atlesjet was going to hold 50.01 percent of shares in KTHY. The move aimed to reduce KTHY's debts to 10 billion USD in the first six months of partnership.
AA