The troubled airline SAS will be allowed to continue its operations during the ongoing court process in the United States, the company announced on Thursday evening.
On Thursday afternoon Swedish time, negotiations began in New York regarding a financial reconstruction under Chapter 11 of the American bankruptcy law. The court then approved that SAS will be allowed to continue its operations as usual throughout the entire process, the airline writes in a press release.
This means, among other things, that the company has the right to pay salaries, conduct daily operations, fulfill its commitments under existing customer programs and pay suppliers according to applicable terms.
”"The court's approvals confirm that our operations will continue as usual during the Chapter 11 process that we have initiated in the US. We will continue to focus on providing our customers with the service they are accustomed to, while accelerating the work of implementing important parts of our comprehensive transformation plan SAS Forward," CEO Anko van der Werff said in a comment.
SAS further states that scheduled flight departures and the Eurobonus loyalty program are not affected by the Chapter 11 process. However, the pilot strike that began on Monday is affecting traffic.
When SAS filed for Chapter 11 on Tuesday, the company's chairman Carsten Dilling and CEO Anko van der Werff said they estimated that the reconstruction of SAS would take nine to 12 months. Anko van der Werff said the biggest advantage of a Chapter 11 proceeding is that it enables SAS to continue operating.
”"The Chapter 11 process is well-known and well-tried in the aviation industry and something that many large airlines have used over the years. There are several advantages to the process, but the most important one is that our customers remain unaffected. We can continue to fly and continue our operations. We would have had completely different conditions if we were to take this to, for example, a Scandinavian court," Anko van der Werff told Di.
Source:DI.SE
