French airline ceases operations due to financial trouble

Aigle Azur, France’s second-largest airline, has cancelled all flights after filing for bankruptcy last week.

As of last Sunday, Aigle Azur – which operates between Algeria, Brazil, China, Russia and France, and employs some 1,150 people – has cancelled all of its flights due to financial trouble.

The airline said on its website that its “financial situation and the resulting operational difficulties do not allow us to ensure flights after the evening of September 6”.

France’s Junior Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbarihe, said the cancellation could also leave thousands of passengers on their way back from vacation blocked outside of the country, according to the Associated Press.

“There is an international system of support that is activated as soon as an airliner fails to ensure its flights, which allows for another company to step in and resume the flights,” Djebbari told French broadcaster RTL.

He added that French authorities were in talks with Air France – who has since increased capacity on flights to and from the effected region – to ensure that no passenger would be “left behind”.

The airline said on its website that it is looking at all possibilities “to adapt our flight schedule to and from the destinations concerned by this stoppage of operations”, and that it will offer discounted tickets to effected passengers.

The French government is working to find new investors for Aigle Azur, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week, according to AP.