Guyana-based carrier Fly

Jamaica has filed for bankruptcy protection in a bid to seek protection from

creditors.

This was recently revealed by Marlon Murdock – the agent for Fly Jamaica trustee Wilfred Baghaloo.

According to Murdock, the

filing for bankruptcy protection with the Office of Insolvency was done on

October 29, and that Fly Jamaica is preparing a proposal for creditors to vote

on – this was preceded by a ‘Notice of Intention’ in the press.

He said the airline was

given an extension – so the new date will be January 14, 2020.

Murdock also said that the airline has presented a list of 259 creditors, who are owed US$21.86 million, but the list is not exhaustive.

Fly Jamaica Airways, which is based in Georgetown, Guyana, started operating on February 14, 2013.

However, the carrier was grounded following an incident at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on November 9, 2018, when the 757 Boeing aircraft, destined for Toronto, Canada, encountered difficulties and made an emergency landing with more than 100 passengers on board.

In March, the airline made all staff redundant with then chairman and chief executive officer, Paul Reece, saying that this was due to the lack of planes to carry out operations and the failure of the company to recover in the aftermath of the November emergency landing.

Prospective buyers of the airline, headed by French acquisition and diversified firm W&L SAS, initially said they planned to get the airline flying again by September. However, that deal failed to materialise.