Mexico’s biggest airline, Mexicana, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The Oneworld carrier voluntarily entered a Mexican ‘Concurso Mercantil’ insolvency petition in Mexico and simultaneously for Chapter 15 in the US to protect its assets from creditors.
The airline said in a statement that it will ‘continue to operate normally’ while it restructures though it has suspended a number of US flights and some of its aircraft have been seized by creditors.
The four weekly flights between Mexico City and Gatwick are currently unaffected.
Link and Click, the carrier’s sister domestic airlines operate independently and were not part of the filing.
Mexicana, whose troubles were compounded by the swine flu crisis and recession has lost US $350 million since 2007. In its bankruptcy petition it listed debt of more than $1 billion.
The airline’s management had been in talks with unions over a possible reduction in staff wages of around 40 per cent but had not reached an agreement.
Staff have also been given the option to buy to the airline for a nominal one peso if they take on much of the debt and change its name.
The US last week downgraded Mexico’s aviation security rating, preventing further expansion by Mexican airlines in the US.
by Debbie Ward
