Spanish leisure carrier LTE International Airways has become the latest carrier to suspend flights due to financial difficulties, but is continuing ACMI operations and hopes to be able to resume charter flights
The carrier informed Spain's ministry of public works yesterday evening that it was temporarily suspending its charter and scheduled operations citing financial difficulties.
In a statement issued this morning on its website, LTE says that due to the financial situation of the company that makes it difficult to meet operational expenses in the next days, it has had to suspend its charter and scheduled operations.
"LTE is doing everything to minimise the impact of this suspension of services on its clients and providers. After 20 years operating with maximum dedication to our clients it just was not possible to avoid this situation given world events lately," it says.
But the carrier, owned by Italy's MyAir holding company MyWay Airlines and which operates seven Airbus A320s, is hoping to be able to resume charter flights.
LTE managing director Michael Harrington tells Flightglobal.com premium sister affiliate ATI: "Because of an unexpected financial situation that happened yesterday, we have had to temporarily, and I emphasise temporarily, suspend our charter operations.
"We have just been with the [Spanish] aviation authorities this morning," he adds.
"Our AOC is continuing and we have to re-present a restructuring plan within the next week to ten days."
He notes the carrier is continuing with its ACMI work - which covers three of its A320s and generates around a third of its revenues - and is working to restart charter flights. "We have not had our AOC suspended and we have not filed for bankruptcy protection," he stresses. "We are trying to restart our charter operations."
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© AirTeamImages/TTAn LTE International Airways Airbus A320 |
Harrington believes if the carrier can retain good relationships with its suppliers it will have the opportunity to resume full operations, but is concerned by a "hysteria" among a few service suppliers - such as some fuel providers - which has been seen in Spain since the high profile collapse of Futura last month.
"While we've gone through a difficult summer with fuel prices, we still had a profitable summer," he says, noting the real difficulty has been a sudden shift by some suppliers to call for instant payment. "If they gave you time to adjust you could do it," he says.
Similarly it has also faced difficulties from banks, despite its 20-year establishment, under their own pressure as a result of the financial crisis.
While he notes the company has benefited from some additional demand following the collapse of Futura, he says the positives have been outweighed by these negatives.
LTE launched operations in November 1987 and operates a mix charter, scheduled and ACMI flights.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
