Mon 17 Feb 2003
Air Lib collapse frees up 44,000 Orly slots
France’s second carrier, Air Lib, grounded last week when its operating licence expired, has filed for bankruptcy.
The commercial court in Creteil is expected to decide today if the airline should be allowed to continuing operating while it tries to restructure or be liquidated immediately, the latter being the more likely option.
Air Lib was grounded after talks with a potential investor, Dutch group Imca, fell through over the French government’s reluctance to intervene with Airbus to negotiate a favourable price for new aircraft.
Some 3,200 Air Lib jobs are now under threat. The airline’s chairman, Jean-Charles Corbet told staff on Thursday he was seeking customers for some of Air Lib’s units in a bid to safeguard 800 jobs.
The airline’s most prized assets are its 44,000 annual landing slots at Paris Orly Airport. However, if Air Lib is declared bankrupt, the slots will be allocated to rival carriers free of charge.
Eric Herbane, deputy co-ordinator of Cohor, the body responsible for drawing up timetables are Orly, told Reuters it would be around a month after the slots became available before they could be redistributed.
easyJet is known to be keen to obtain Orly slots. Spokesman Toby Nicol confirmed the airline was hopeful it would be a beneficiary. ‘The co-ordinator will redistribute the slots and we will be a candidate,’ he said.
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