There are real people in this story !
 

Genuine commiserations to all ex-XL employees, I'm not a pilot but close to the fraternity and working down the Tech chain looking after your engines.

The issues here are many and complex but you cant help feeling that whilst middle east biilionaires splash cash on their latest footballing hobby it sits uncomfortably that hard working pilots and airline staff are wondering how to pay their mortgages.
(I watched nearly 6000 Rover workers go through the pain)

You done nothing wrong folks and you were a great airline - please take forward the confidence that your capabilities will shine through.

Good luck to each and every one of you and your dependants ; try to stay calm and hopefully it will work out ok !

So the beancounters cause a flight that was en-route to land at Paris rather than Manchester ?

Am I reading that right ?

If so a :ugh: is in order

According to interviews on BBC news, the MD of Excel and the CAA wanted the aircraft overseas to operate and bring back the stranded passengers (and crew), but the administrator wouldn't do it. That beggars belief, as does the diversion to Paris.

xl pilots might try phoning the administrators offering to ferry the remaining aircraft back to the leasing company.....assuming they were leased?

Administrators will be required to return assets to leasing companies. The ailrine i worked for that went bust had to get the aircraft back to the leasing company and paid pilots daily rates to ferry the aircraft across Europe.

just a thouught ........

good luck to you all.

I have just watched the BBC lunchtime news, in a long article about the collapse of XL no mention was made of the poor staff :mad:
This is quite normal for the British press as anyone who was affected by the collapse of Court Line/Clarksons will no doubt remember. I'm still annoyed about the press coverage of that 30+ years later!

Good luck to all XL group employees.

That lunchtime news also showed families with school children going out to Florida - it is actually now illegal to take kids out of school for a holiday...

Tyres...
I think the reasoning as to Paris was so the a/c would not be 'clamped' and held by the airport owners, as has been done at LGW..

Daz

Other than the small announcement on the LGW website, no-one in departures really knows that XL is gone. It is... bizarre.

S.

There are many planes "on order" on that list.
:bored:

Eikido

Everyone who works in this business is, if nothing else, resourceful. I'm sure the XL lot will be no different to any others.

Good luck to you all!

Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank; the Icelandic bank that bought XL France and Germany last night....But they didn’t want to buy or even extend the loan to XL UK.

Come on you journalists - go and do some research. Our Icelandic friends have an office in London. Here’s the website: Straumur - Straumur

Why is it that all the news coverage is aimed at the stranded passengers when there seems to be no mention of the employees who as from today will be wondering how they'll pay next months mortgage? Lets face it, yes it's sh*t for those people who have lost holidays or have to get their credit cards out to pay for return flights but at least they have jobs when they get home.

The administrators take on personal liability when they take on a job which is why they shut everthing down until they have had a chance to see what is what. So I dont blame them for grounding flights and not incurring liabilities. Their job is not to run a travel business, just maximise the return to the people who are owed money.

Whilst the refinancing discussion were going on, the potential administrators would have been looking to develop a plan of action if they were appointed. This is often the reason why sales of major assets happen quickly in the first day or so as it provides funds for the administrator to operate.

The first couple of days are very busy for the administrators and their lawyers just getting the administration going.

25 years ago when I did a receivership we had done all the redundancy letters the day before we were appointed to save time and sack the people we had to by the end of the appointment day.

Its a tough business for everyone, management staff, shareholders, creditors, customers, suppliers and administrators.

Journalists!

Speak with this chap to find out why XL UK was dumped but not the French and the German subsids.

Andrew Bernhardt, Straumur's 'Managing Director of Dept Finance',
Tel +354 585 66 00

Sources:
- Name of person from XL Germany's website - Start: XL Airways Germany

- Phonenumber from website of Straumur - Straumur - Straumur

johndehav

Perhaps you could tell us which agency / airline you represent ( or provide some contact details ) and I am sure the applications will come rushing in.

Bridge Builder,

Below is a quote I saw elsewhere so I can't verify its authenticity, but before anyone attacks Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank it may be worth considering:

Not intending to start a pro/anti EU argument, but food for thought all the same.

BA have sent a 777 out this morning from Heathrow to Orlando to help get people home and another going tomorrow. Also 737 sent from Gatwick to Dalaman and looking at how to help getting those stranded in the Caribbean home.

Thought are with all the staff at this difficult time and hope all crew stranded get home soon.

Two things to note, the SFB flight to Man that got rerouted to Paris was a sensible decision, if the a/c had landed in Man it would not be able to leave.
Remember the a/c in question is not operated by XL UK but for XL UK by XL France, so it flew back to it's base.
Now l am only guessing that the reason XL France & XL Germany were brought last night was because they were operating in or close to profit.
Remember XL UK was loosing money at an alarming rate and made a loss of over 20 million last year before fuel prices went through the roof.

PS. What has happened to the server clock at pprune, this post showed 06-45 this morning when l posted.

Have been watching coverage this morning/afternoon, I'm gettin fed up of the coverage and reporting of those who were not even about to set off on their XL holiday yet, still at home, moaning about what they are going to do.

My thoughts go to the staff whom are now without a job, those with mortgages that need paying, those newly qualified pilots with training costs to repay, those flight crew who are going to struggle finding a new employer anywhere this side of the far-east.

from the Freight Dog Side
 

...because I spend most of my time on the dark non SLF side of the airport, I've probably missed it, but, I thought Air Atlanta Icelandic owned XL or Travel City?
Commiserations to all those affected by the many ripples of this latest demise.