German airline Germania said on Tuesday it had filed for insolvency and would terminate flight operations immediately, citing rising fuel prices and a stronger dollar.
Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH, its sister maintenance company Germania Technik Brandenburg GmbH as well as Germania Flugdienste GmbH filed for insolvency at Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg on Monday, February 4, 2019.
Germania had “no other option” but to file for bankruptcy following financial trouble, the airline’s CEO Karsten Balke said on Tuesday.
Karsten Balke, CEO Germania Fluggesellschaft mbH, said: “Unfortunately, we were ultimately unable to bring our financing efforts to cover a short-term liquidity need to a positive conclusion. We very much regret that consequently, our only option was to file for insolvency. It is of course the impact that this step will have on our employees that we regret the most. All of them as a team always did their best to secure reliable and stable flight operations – even in the stressful weeks behind us. I would like to thank all of them from the bottom of my heart. I apologise to our passengers who now cannot take their Germania flight as planned.”
According to its website, Germania carried more than four million passengers a year and has a fleet of 37 aircraft.
The Berlin-based company cancelled all flights and advised passengers to contact their travel agents about alternative arrangements. People who bought their tickets directly from the company “unfortunately have no claim to alternative trips,” the company said.
The company’s subsidiaries Swiss Germania Flug and Bulgarian Eagle were not affected, the statement said.
The small carrier’s bankruptcy comes after Air Berlin, formerly Germany’s second-largest airline, went bust in 2017 after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses.
The mid-market airline ran flights to around 60 destinations in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, transporting more than four million passengers per year.
The airline was founded in April 1978 as Special Air Transport or SAT for short in Cologne and started operations on 5 September 1978 with a Fokker F-27
