Court seizes airline equipment
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Court seizes airline equipment
07/01/2006
News24
Court seizes airline equipment
Kinshasa - A Congolese court has ordered the seizure of equipment used by Air France, SN Brussels and Ethiopian Airlines for their alleged failure to pay for ground services, a judicial source said on Saturday.
The source said the seizure, ordered late on Friday at the request of Congolese Airlines (LAC), covered such items as boarding stairs, trucks and luggage belts at Kinshasa airport.
LAC claims that the three companies had not paid it for ground services since 2002, and is demanding $300 000 dollars in arrears plus another $150 000 in damages from each.
The three airlines targetted began a counter-suit on Saturday, disputing LAC's claim to have a monopoly on services at the airport.
"We are going to pay nothing because we owe nothing," Air France representative Dominique Legrand said.
"There is an agreement between the Congolese state and the French state
concerning our operations and we have nothing to do with LAC."
He added, "LAC has been incapable of supplying services for years. The only effect of this will be to frighten off potential investors by showing them that there is no legal protection for companies in the DRC."
A local civil aviation operator, who asked not to be identified, said LAC's move was "a last gasp" by the state-owned company.
"LAC has been bankrupt since 2003," he said. "It owes millions of dollars, has no serviceable aircraft and should have been wound up long ago. Its legal action is a last attempt at blackmail."
A DRC legal source said the three companies should soon have their equipment restored, though the case could drag on.
Kinshasa - A Congolese court has ordered the seizure of equipment used by Air France, SN Brussels and Ethiopian Airlines for their alleged failure to pay for ground services, a judicial source said on Saturday.
The source said the seizure, ordered late on Friday at the request of Congolese Airlines (LAC), covered such items as boarding stairs, trucks and luggage belts at Kinshasa airport.
LAC claims that the three companies had not paid it for ground services since 2002, and is demanding $300 000 dollars in arrears plus another $150 000 in damages from each.
The three airlines targetted began a counter-suit on Saturday, disputing LAC's claim to have a monopoly on services at the airport.
"We are going to pay nothing because we owe nothing," Air France representative Dominique Legrand said.
"There is an agreement between the Congolese state and the French state
concerning our operations and we have nothing to do with LAC."
He added, "LAC has been incapable of supplying services for years. The only effect of this will be to frighten off potential investors by showing them that there is no legal protection for companies in the DRC."
A local civil aviation operator, who asked not to be identified, said LAC's move was "a last gasp" by the state-owned company.
"LAC has been bankrupt since 2003," he said. "It owes millions of dollars, has no serviceable aircraft and should have been wound up long ago. Its legal action is a last attempt at blackmail."
A DRC legal source said the three companies should soon have their equipment restored, though the case could drag on.
