Aer Rianta last night seized an aircraft worth $30-$40 million (€35.8E47.78 million) at Dublin Airport from TransAer, the charter airline going into liquidation.
About 298 people will lose their jobs at the Dublin company following yesterday's appointment of a liquidator at the High Court. An additional 247 people will lose their jobs at the airline's operations in Britain, Greece and Germany. It is thought Aer Rianta was owed about £200,000 in unpaid landing fees and charges, but TransAer's chief executive, Mr Willie O'Byrne, declined to comment when asked how much money its creditors were owed.
SunWorld and Falcon/JWT, the Irish travel companies that use TransAer services, both said alternative flights had been arranged for their customers travelling to and from Lanzarote, Malaga, Larnaca and Rome this weekend.
Mr O'Byrne claimed TransAer had traded profitably since the beginning of the year but losses incurred during the Kosovo war last year and an examinership since September at its US trading partner meant the business was unsustainable.
He declined to specify the losses incurred last year. "We certainly incurred significant losses last year which put the airline into some distress," he said.
A proposal to merge with a British company, HeavyLift Cargo, collapsed last Friday and the company failed in its attempts to seek alternative investment this week.
Attempts last night to seek comment from HeavyLift Cargo failed.
The Irish Times learned on Thursday that TransAer was in financial crisis. At that time, its spokesman claimed there was no suggestion that closure was imminent.
TransAer, which started trading in 1992, was owned by a former pilot from Co Sligo, Mr PJ McGoldrick, who also worked as Ryanair chief executive in the past. Ironically, Mr McGoldrick was HeavyLift's first chief executive when that company was established in the 1980s.
TransAer employed 136 people in Britain and 55 in Greece and Germany. It had 56 contract staff at various locations.
"There will be very significant job losses. We sought a voluntary winding up and ultimately all jobs will be lost," Mr O'Byrne said. He added that the airline was making arrangements to fly staff home from various locations. The company received "very significant tangible support" from the companies that leased aircraft to it, he said TransAer was attempting to return aircraft to those companies, though Mr O'Bryne said this was in the hands of its liquidators, the accounting firm McStay Luby.
TransAer leased four Airbus A300s from GECAS, the Shannon-based subsidiary of General Electric which operates the former GPA business. These aircraft were valued at about $20 million each.
The Airbus A320 aircraft seized by Aer Rianta is owned by Orix Aviation, a Japan-based company. TransAer leased nine such craft, worth $40 million when new, from three companies based in the US, Japan and Singapore.
Six aircraft were leased from ICFC, a subsidiary of the US group AIG, two were leased from Orix, which has an operation at the IFSC in Dublin, and it leased a single A320 from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprises.
Mr O'Bryne said the creation of an extensive no-fly zone in central Europe during the Kosovo war had increased its cost base significantly.
The examinership of the US airline TransMeredian, which used its aircraft during the European off-season, meant its $20 million investment was lost.
