Reunion’s Air Bourbon lands in bankruptcy

SAINT-DENIS, Reunion, Nov 29 (AFP) – Air Bourbon, an airline based in the French overseas department of Reunion Island, declared bankruptcy Monday at a court here, three days after cancelling all services to Paris, a court official said.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded by the collapse of Air Bourbon, which announced late Friday it was cancelling all flights because of financial difficulties.

On Monday morning, dozens of people lined up at the offices of another airline, Corsair, seeking tickets for a flight Thursday to Lyon and Paris arranged by the local government to repatriate the stranded passengers.

Another flight, on an Air Austral aircraft, has been ordered to take passengers to Paris on Friday, at a cost of EUR 300 (USD 397.75) per ticket.

Air Bourbon, created in June 2003, had flown four flights a week between Reunion and Paris with its sole aircraft, an Airbus A340.

The company posted sales of EUR 16 million and an operating loss of EUR 3 million in 2003.

The company’s chief executive, Erick Lazarus, said the airline’s financial difficulties were caused by under-capitalization and higher fuel prices.

© AFP