Not only passengers suffered when one of Ukraine’s largest airlines, AeroSvit, went bankrupt.
A
dozen large travel companies lost more than Hr 10 million in
cancelled air tickets and are now taking to the courts to get their
money back.
“Winter
holidays are a very busy season, most tours for the New Year and
Christmas are sold in autumn and early December. So when in December
many clients realized that AeroSvit is in trouble, they demanded to
change their airline and fly with companies other than AeroSvit. So
we were canceling a lot of tickets,” says Olga Panchenko, head of
airlines department of Hamalia, one of the affected travel companies.
The
money, however, did not go to AeroSvit, but to IATA (International
Air Transport Association), an international industry trade group of
airlines which acts as an intermediary in ticket booking and payment
systems between airlines and customers.
After
months of canceling and delaying flights, AeroSvit announced it was
entering bankruptcy proceedings on Dec. 29.
However,
IATA did not immediately block the company in the booking system, as
it is supposed to when airlines go bankrupt. AeroSvit was blocked
only on Jan. 10.
Nonetheless,
from Dec. 29 until Jan. 10, travel companies were cancelling tickets
and returning money to their frustrated clients.
“Despite
the fact that travel companies had a negative balance, thus IATA owed
them money for canceled tickets, IATA sent them a bill to pay for the
tickets. Some companies, afraid of being shut out of the IATA booking
system, paid. Others did not,” says Danil Getmantsev from
Jurimex, a legal firm representing Travel Professional Group, an
umbrella group combining several agencies.
Aside
from Hamalia and Travel Professional Group, at least six other
companies lost money, including Kiyavia,
one of the biggest ticket bookers.
Aerosvit also sued IATA, claiming the trade group owes them money for the December flights.
“IATA declined to transfer money both to AeroSvit – which resulted in AeroSvit being unable to pay this money back to travel agencies – and to travel companies directly for the tickets they refunded to their clients with their own money. This was the reason why both travel companies and Aerosvit went to court,” AeroSvit said in a statement emailed to the Kyiv Post.
“Usually
financial matters are settled between IATA and the airlines which go
bankrupt. This was the case with (Hungary’s) Malev, for example,
which went bankrupt recently. However, it seems that in Ukraine
travel companies are being turned into scapegoats,” says
Jurimex’s Getmantsev.
Meanwhile,
IATA’s central office blames AeroSvit which, they say, deceived them.
“AeroSvit
approached IATA claiming the airline did not cease operations and the
sole purpose of filing for bankruptcy protection was related to the
restructuring of their business … IATA asked AeroSvit to issue a
security deposit to cover any risks. AeroSvit
refused to pay the security deposit to IATA … On Jan. 10, 2013,
IATA suspended AeroSvit from the (international BSP booking system)
and instructed travel agents to settle all outstanding balances
directly with the airline. AeroSvit’s suspension coincided with the
day Ukrainian agents remitted money to the BSP for their weekly
sales, which also included the sales for AeroSvit,” said Kalliopi
Lazari, assistant manager of corporate communications at IATA.
The
company adds that, since both AeroSvit and travel agents claimed the
money, it is leaving the decision up to the court.
But AeroSvit is also challenging the fact that, since Jan. 10, IATA has kept their funds frozen for flights that had already been completed.
Ukrainian lawyer and aviation expert Andriy Guck argues that since the AeroSvit funds are frozen because of ongoing bankruptcy procedures, other airlines might suffer if IATA is obliged to pay the money back to Ukrainian travel companies.
“In this case, they will
have to pay with the money of other members of the BSP system,” Guck said.
“As all other members of BSP Ukraine, we are following the developments very closely and are worried. Nothing like that has ever happened in Ukraine before. This situation is not standard for the world aviation practice as well,” says Oksana Kilicci, Alitalia’s country director for Ukraine.
Kyiv Post staff
writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected]
