By Pat Flynn
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Two
passenger jets owned by Shannon-based sister companies will stay
impounded at an airport in Malta following a ruling in its civil courts.
The
Airbus A320-211s, previously operated by bankrupt airline Windjet, are
owned by Eden Irish Aircraft Leasing and ALS Irish Aircraft Leasing.
Based in Shannon, both are subsidiaries of AerCap, which had also leased
aircraft to Windjet but managed to recover them in August, soon after
the airline declared bankruptcy.
Seven A320 aircraft operated by
Windjet were originally impounded in Malta by order of Sicilian airport
operator Catania Aeroporto. It’s claimed the airline owes €2.3m for
airport services costs. The other five planes, also leased to Windjet by
third parties, were returned to their owners after they deposited
financial guarantees with the courts. Lawyers for Eden Irish Aircraft
Leasing and ALS Irish Aircraft Leasing had applied to the Maltese Courts
to release the planes.
The Irish firms argued they had landed
the aircraft in Malta as part of a repossession process, due to
Windjet’s default on its payment obligations, when the Sicilian airport
authority obtained the seizure order.
Source: http://www.irishexaminer.com