JACKSON FLORES / RIO DE JANEIRO
Säo Paulo's stock exchange Bovespa suspended trading in Varig stock for 24h as a warning to Brazil's flag carrier after it failed to file its third quarter results on time or hold its annual shareholders' meeting.
Bovespa said last week that if the airline did not submit its third quarter results by midnight on 14 March, it would expel Varig from its roster of stock trading companies. Market analysts say the airline's lack of compliance as it awaits a solution to its financial problems indicates that the carrier will post far greater losses than those registered over the previous two quarters in 2002.
After one of its Boeing 767-200ERs was seized at Miami International Airport earlier this month, Varig said it would return its remaining five 767-200ERs ahead of schedule to lessor GECAS by 14 March. The Brazilian flag carrier indicated that four Boeing 737-500s would also be returned to GECAS by that date.
Source: Flight International
