The Slovak court-appointed restructuring trustee of SkyEurope Airlines a.s. filed yesterday for the opening of bankruptcy proceedings of SkyEurope Airlines a.s., the operating subsidiary of SkyEurope Holding AG, due to the lack of sufficient interim funding to finance ongoing operations. All flights of SkyEurope Airlines a.s. are suspended with immediate effect. The low-cost carrier has never been in black numbers since its founding in 2001. The losses were becoming bigger and bigger during last months. SkyEurope Airlines started with an
Embraer 120, added first Boeings
B737-500 and
B737-300 later and 15 of the newest
B737-700NGs based in Prague, Bratislava, Vienna and Košice have been used since 2006. The popular carrier was the second biggest at Prague-Ruzyně after CSA and helped to enhance the market both in Bratislava and Prague. However, decreasing load factor and rocketing fuel prices have deteriorated the financial situation of the company even more, leading to poor payment records to service providers, own employees and some passengers who could not get their money back for cancelled flights. Several B737-700 aircraft were seized by the GECAS leasing company in January 2009, another one was withdrawn at the end of January and the company was left with 4 aircraft. Although there was a big effort stay on the skies strongly supported by the employees, the situation has been rapidly deteriorating and the bankruptcy protection entered lately did not help to get new funds in time. Despite the latest development and financial struggles, SkyEurope was a brand that was perceived very positively by the passengers at the good times.
