airport logo
WorldWide Airport Car Hire
News > Flyglobespan Grounded

Flyglobespan Grounded

1/22/2010
In December nearly three and a half thousand holiday makers in Egypt, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus were left stranded by the collapse of budget airline Flyglobespan.
 
In December nearly three and a half thousand holiday makers in Egypt, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus were left stranded by the collapse of budget airline Flyglobespan.

The fall of Flyglobespan caused further travel chaos right before Christmas at a time when British Airways was considering striking and UK airports were already frozen by bad weather.  Following the collapse last year of XL airways UK, the disappearance of yet another low cost airline is bad news for the car hire business, especially car hire Spain and car hire Portugal. Scottish company Flyglobespan had 800 staff and ferried more than one and a half million passengers to and from destinations in Europe last year.

The Globespan company was plunged into administration when an online payment company E-Clear could not come forth with the £35 million it owed them. So the Edinburgh-based company has now taken E-Clear to court. Acting on behalf of Globespan, the case of accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) against E-Clear is currently being heard in the High Court.

It is thought that E-Clear owes a large amount of money, up to £100 million to various creditors across Europe. These include airline SkyEurope and the Deutchse bank Pago.  According to one creditor, the chief executive Cypriot business man Elias Elia has very little money in his accounts. If these wider financial concerns are proved true then it is very unlikely that up to 15,000 people, who did not use a Visa debit card to pay for their flights and who don't have travel insurance, will ever be able to recoup the money. There are also many passengers who are waiting for rebates from their credit card company.

PwC's Bruce Cartwright said: "I am pleased to say that we have now got a bit nearer the truth, but I am equally disappointed to say that our worst fears have come true. The Globespan money has not been found."
Although E-Clear initially resisted going into administration and insisted that the company's accounts were in good health, the company did not even bother to have its lawyers make a representation at the court case.
Mr Elia's company Libra Holidays, which offered holidays to Greece and Cyprus, has also gone into administration.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "This is a very worrying situation. We will be pressing the United Kingdom government in order to investigate fully the circumstances which led to the collapse of Globespan."
rss

Our Suppliers


Car Hire Suppliers





Newsletter


sign up here