Germania ceased flying on the night of 4 to 5 February, forced to file for bankruptcy Faced with financial difficulties, including rising fuel prices, the fall of the euro against the dollar and an unusually high number of maintenance operations. Founded in 1986, the low-cost carrier had a fleet of 37 aircraft and had positioned itself mainly in the following sectors leisure linksThese include services between Germany and Corsica, and from Toulouse to Morocco and Dubrovnik. At the beginning of January, Germania announced that it was studying "various financing options to meet its short-term liquidity needs."Its Swiss subsidiary, Germania Flug, and its Bulgarian subsidiary, Bulgarian Eagle, are not affected by this measure.
Following the announcement, Karsten Balke, CEO of Germania Fluggesellschaft, said: "I apologise to our passengers who are unable to catch their flight as planned."Passengers who have booked their Germania flight as part of a package holiday can contact their tour operator to arrange alternative transport. Passengers who have booked their flight directly with Germania will not be affected. not reimbursed.
This bankruptcy occurs in a difficult context for European low-cost airlines. The current difficulties of NorwegianIn addition, Primera, Small Planet, Azur, Sky Works, VLM, Cobalt and Cello have all gone bankrupt in recent months. Even Ryanair, the European leader in the low-cost segment, is feeling the slowdown with a loss of 20 million euros in the last quarter of 2018, citing strong competition as the explanation, which has led to a 6 % drop in the average price. "We expect more bankruptcies of airlines in 2019 due to overcapacity in the European market, leading to continued low fares"As the Irish airline explained when announcing its results.
