The Airlines That Went Bankrupt In 2019
019 was a tough year for many airlines.
At least 18 airlines went bankrupt over the year, including some big names such as Thomas Cook, Jet Airways, Flybmi and Avianca Brasil.
Here is a quick recap of some events.
According to Reuters, airline bankruptcies increased at the fastest ever rate in 2019.
They cite reasons including weaker airlines being unable to compete against low-cost models, higher fuel costs and a strong dollar.
Many of the airlines on the list are small. These include single aircraft airlines such as Fly Jamaica Airways and Al Naser Wings, as well as local operators such as Wisdom Airways which operated a small fleet from Chiang Mai in Thailand.
We take a further look here at some of the larger bankruptcy cases, and what went wrong with these airlines.
Thomas Cook
Certainly very much in the memory of many in the UK, Thomas Cook went bankrupt on September 23 after it failed to secure £200 million (FJ$565 million) of funding.
Whilst it had been in financial difficulty for some time, its collapse was no less damaging. The airline left more than 600,000 passengers stranded around the world.
This prompted the UK’s largest-ever peacetime repatriation operation.
It also brought to an end the 178year history of the famous UK tour operator.
Jet Airways
On April 17, Jet Airways announced it was ceasing operations.
It was struggling for some time, and had already started grounded flights earlier in the year.
The final straw was the refusal of emergency funds from the State Bank of India to keep operating.
Jet Airways was once the largest airline in India, operating a fleet of 120 aircraft.
WOW Air
WOW Air was an Iceland based lowcost carrier. It originally offered lowcost European flights but expanded quickly to the US, attempting similar low fares through aggressive promotions.
It was in financial difficulty from mid-2018 but finally faced bankruptcy on March 28, 2019.
It followed two failed acquisitions by Icelandair and investment firm Indigo Partners.
In November 2019, plans were announced to re-launch as ‘PLAY’.
The airline would again start with European operations, but with plans to soon investigate US routes.
At Simple Flying, we looked recently at this, as well as the bigger questions of whether bankrupt carriers should relaunch.
Adria Airways
Slovenian airline Adria Airways announced bankruptcy on September 30th.
Its difficulties had been long-lasting – it had not been in profit since 2014.
As the flag carrier of Slovenia, it was founded in 1961.
It was obviously of great significance to Slovenia and greatly reduced flight operations at the main airport, Ljubljana.
Soon after, the Lufthansa Group moved in to replace many of the routes.
SWISS has even replaced one route with a train service.
Aigle Azur
Aigle Azur was the second largest airline in France and went bankrupt on September 27.
It had previously rejected a number of takeover bids – there had been strong interest in their slots at Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Flybmi
Several months before Thomas Cook’s problems, in February 2019, the smaller UK airline Flybmi faced bankruptcy.
Flybmi operated UK domestic and European flights.
It blamed a number of issues – including rising fuel prices (and the EU’s decision to exclude UK airlines from full participation in the Emissions Trading Scheme) and the uncertainty around the Brexit process in the UK.
Avianca Brazil and Avianca Argentina
Both of these airlines, separate entities operating under the Avianca brand, went bankrupt in June 2019.
Avianca Brazil was the fourthlargest airline in Brazil (both domestic and international) at the time of bankruptcy.
Avianca Argentina was a much smaller operation based in Buenos Aires.
It was formed only in 2017 when
Avianca acquired Macair Jet, operating just domestic flights in Argentina.
Looking forward
Naturally, it is hard to predict what 2020 will bring for any airline.
But many of the difficulties in the industry remain.
On the positive side, stronger airlines are benefiting from increased traffic, available slots and more aircraft on the market.
We have seen this many times. - for example, with the slots of Monarch airlines (which went bankrupt in 2017) and more recently, Ryanair looking to acquire part of Thomas Cook’s fleet.