VILNIUS – Lithuanian carrier flyLAL, which counts Scandinavian airline SAS among its competitors, said on Monday it was considering filing for bankruptcy after grounding flights and failing to sell itself to a Swiss fund.
The airline, the former state-owned carrier which was privatised in 2005 by local businessmen, had just two weeks ago said fund Swiss Capital Holding was ready to buy it.
But the deal failed to materialise.
‘We wanted to continue our activity until the very last moment, but the buyer failed to execute the transfer by the deadline and we decided to cease operations,’ said spokeswoman Gintare Rimkuviene.
‘We have not filed for bankruptcy yet, but that option is possible, it is being discussed,’ she added.
The last flight operated by flyLAL landed on Friday.
About 11,000 passengers were left with valid, but unused flight tickets, Rimkuviene said.
The carrier had 89 million litas ($34.3 million) in debts at the end of 2008, but has no planes of its own. It employs 360.
