Administrators of French carriers AOM-Air Liberte have received 15 bids for the partial or full take-over of the struggling airlines, which filed for bankruptcy in mid June when owners the Swissair Group and Marine-Wendel failed to attract new investment. UK holding company AITI, low cost airline EasyJet and French tour operator Nouvelles Frontieres, which had originally expressed interest in AOM-Air Liberte, did not submit bids.
Bidders include French finance house Fidei, backed by Air France pilot Jean-Charles Corbet; Toulouse-based Aeris, which wants to hive off the charter business; and a group of Air Liberte flight crew known as Fokker 100.
The administrators at the Tribunal de Commerce in Paris have until mid-July to decide on the bids, but with AOM-Air Liberte believed to be losing up to Fr5 million ($425,000) a day there is doubt as to whether it can survive until then. Swissair declines to say whether the Fr2 billion it originally offered to fund a restructuring plan is still available.
Swissair, meanwhile, is selling its 49% share of Air Littoral, the third French airline under its control, to ex-chairman Marc Dufour. The Swiss carrier declines to give details. Dufour's plans for the Montpellier-based airline are likely to include a 20-30% cut in employees. The move has not been universally welcomed by the unions, although the French CFDT/SNTA transport union concedes there is little option.
Source: Flight International
