Vienna bans SkyEurope

Payments outstanding airport claims

Vienna Airport has stopped servicing SkyEurope flights after the airline failed to pay its outstanding airport fees.

The airport's operator Flughafen Wien AG said SkyEurope, one of central Europe's largest low cost airlines, had missed its Friday payment deadline despite "long and intensive negotiations".

Flughafen said the ban on SkyEurope's flights was part of a payment agreement made the day before the deadline.

"Any SkyEurope a.s. aircraft whose departure is scheduled after midnight on Friday, 14 August 2009, will not be handled by Flughafen Wien AG and no other services of any kind will be provided for this airline," the airport operator said. 

But Flughafen said the ban only applied to SkyEurope flights departing from Vienna. Arriving flights would still be accepted.

"This is a temporary measure until an agreement can be reached to resume flights from Vienna," SkyEurope said in a statement.

SkyEurope said flights scheduled to depart from Vienna will now leave from its base at Bratislava airport.

Passengers may still check-in at Vienna but then be transferred by bus to Bratislava.

Flughafen had given SkyEurope until Friday to pay its outstanding airport fees after grounding its flights on Tuesday.

Lufthansa has named SkyEurope as a possible buyer of slots at Vienna which will come under its control with the take over of Austrian Airlines

The routes will be given up by Lufthansa to address competition concerns raised by the European Commission.

SkyEurope's failure to pay its airport fees and application for protection from creditors in June casts doubt over its financial standing.

But in July the carrier announced it had signed two separate financing agreements worth €21.6m.

Austrian investor group FOCUS Equity B.V. will provide €16.5m while UK-based Chain Box Technology Ltd will invest €5m on a "short-term basis".

In June the airline said it had asked Bratislava District Court to give it time to carry out a re-organisation plan to "make the company more attractive for potential investors."

SkyEurope has seen a sharp drop in passenger numbers this year.

The airline's April figures showed a 27.5% year-on-year decline in passenger numbers.

In March SkyEurope's reported a 39% drop in passengers to 187,655 from 307,540 for the same month in 2008.

www.skyeurope.com