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The process to liquidate the insolvent airline Aigle Azur (ZI, Paris Orly) began on September 16, but Evry Commercial Court gave bidders two more days to come up with acceptable rescue plans, according to the Reuters news agency.
Aigle Azur's 9,800 slots at Orly are reportedly of particular interest; the slots cannot be purchased directly, however, only via a takeover of the company. In total, 14 takeover offers were received. British low-cost carrier easyJet has expressed an interest in buying collapsed airline Aigle Azur. According to Reuters, the UK airline has confirmed today that is keen to take over the French airline’s Paris, Orly operations easyJet wants Aigle Azur’s slots at Paris, Orly. Photo: Francescoprocida via Flickr.
The court placed the liquidation under a 'going concern' process that pushed the deadline for offers back to midnight on September 18.
In a programme on the French TV channel CNews, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, the Secretary of State for Transport, spoke of two recovery projects for Aigle Azur, namely a combined offer by Air France and Groupe Dubreuil, which runs the subsidiaries Air Caraibes Atlantique and French Bee, plus an offer from a competitor carrier later named by the French news agency AFP as easyJet.
However, although easyJet tabled a proposal last week, it said on September 16 that it had only submitted an “expression of interest” in Aigle Azur's medium-haul operations.
Air France is interested in acquiring the insolvent carrier’s medium-haul business, serving Algeria and the surrounding region, along with valuable slots at Paris Orly, while Air Caraïbes wants its long-haul operations to destinations such as Brazil.
A third offer headed by Lionel Guérin, a former chief executive of Air France HOP, has since been withdrawn, sources told Reuters. Air Algérie said in a public statement last week that it would be interested in buying Aigle and had the means to do so, but has not yet proposed an offer.
Privately owned Aigle Azur was put under bankruptcy protection on September 2 and ceased operations four days later, stranding 19,000 passengers. Djebbari said on September 8 that at that time, about 13,000 were still stuck on either side of the Mediterranean Sea, 11,000 of them in Algeria.
Tassili Airlines (SF, Algiers) said it had implemented a special programme of daily flights between Algiers and Orly from September 8 to 20, with a 'new one-way preferential tariff', 'to allow Aigle Azur passengers to have a travel alternative in the current situation'. Air Algérie, meanwhile, has increased its seat capacity to France by 300 seats a day.
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About Aigle Azur
| Type | Scheduled Carrier |
|---|---|
| Base | Paris Orly |
Aigle Azur will suspend operations on Friday night. All flights from Saturday, September 7th, have been cancelled.
The French airline filed for bankruptcy and entered receivership on Monday, following financial and leadership issues. It continues to seek a bid for acquisition to save the company, AFP reports. At least three companies are reportedly interested in making a takeover offer, mostly because of Aigle Azur’s valuable take off and landing slots at Paris Orly Airport.
After filing for bankruptcy, Aigle Azur initially stated that several routes would be suspended by September 10th, and its long-haul service to Campinas, Brazil, was due to end on September 27th. The airline had assured passengers that flights would continue to operate. On Friday, the airline will serve a total of 44 flights before officially ceasing operations at 11:59pm local time. Its website is no longer available.
As of now, Aigle Azur employs around 1,150 people and was owned by HNA Group (48%), David Neeleman (32%) and Gerard Houa (20%). Its current fleet consists of seven Airbus A320 and two A330-200, along with one A319 and one A320 which are leased to TAP Air Portugal. Houa, a French businessman who only holds a minority share, attempted to take control of the airline in August, which caused the president of Aigle Azur to put the airline under a temporary administrator on August 27th, who decided that filing for bankruptcy was the only available option for the financially struggling carrier.
Aigle Azur was founded in 1946 and started operations with a fleet of Junkers Ju 52. From the beginning on, the airline secured contracts for charter and holiday flights to destinations in northern Africa and the Middle East, services which have (with some breaks in between) lasted through the company’s entire history until today. In the 1970s the airline acted mostly as a regional operator. GoFast Group made investments into Aigle Azur in 2001; the airline was only operating two aircraft at the time. During the following years, the carrier expanded by adding new Airbus A320 aircraft to its fleet. In October 2012, Chinese HNA Group acquired 48% of Aigle Azur. Other shares were held by the Weaving Group. The latter company sold its remaining stake to investor and airline founder David Neeleman in 2017.
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Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.