flee 5 Report post Posted February 1, 2012 * Airline says financing unresolved beyond end of January * Renews plea for govt help, but says aware options limited * Govt declares airline strategically important * Move allows govt to protect Malev from bankruptcy process (Releads after Malev statement) By Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Hungarian airline Malev said it doesn't have the financing to keep going , hours after the government took preparatory steps to restructure the loss-making carrier and protect it from bankruptcy proceedings. The announcement follows a European Commission ruling early this month that forced the carrier to repay state aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars received from 2007-10, the equivalent of its entire 2010 revenue. "At today's board meeting, chief executive Lorant Limburger informed the board that, despite the continuous improvement in commercial results, the financing of operations has become unsustainable as of the end of January, and it is unresolved," Malev said on Monday. The airline, which accounts for 40 percent of annual turnover at Budapest's international airport, said it had managed to agree with U.S. firm ILFC on the continued lease of its fleet, which comprises 22 passenger aircraft. Malev's management must draw up a liquidity management plan by the end of this week, the airline said, renewing a plea for government help to resolve the situation. After failed privatisation attempts, Hungary in 2010 bought back all but a 5 percent stake in the carrier, which employs 2,600 people. "The board ... asked the owner to do all it can to resolve the situation, while conceding that the (January EU Commission) ruling makes the government's room for manoeuvre very limited," Malev said in a statement. Earlier on Monday a government decree, signed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, designated Malev as a strategically important company, preventing creditors from launching bankruptcy proceedings. The decree also allows a government body to run any liquidation procedure started against Malev and handle its assets. In a Jan. 9 ruling, the EU Commission listed various forms of state financing for Malev between 2007 and 2010, which it said Malev would not have been able to obtain from the market on the terms granted by the Hungarian authorities. The airline posted a loss of 24.6 billion Hungarian forints ($110 million) in 2010, but early this month forecast a significant improvement in operating results this year on the back of higher revenue and by filling more seats on its planes. ($1 = 224.2766 Hungarian forints) (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs) Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/malev-idUSL5E8CU3FT20120130 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BC Tam 2 Report post Posted February 1, 2012 Looks pretty grim doesn't it ? It's a bit ironic that the airline is pleading for help from the government when it is precisely state financial assistance that got it into trouble with the EU Commission in the first place It's just too tempting not to make comparisons with our 5* national carrier Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted February 1, 2012 Well, Hungary still has Wizz as their 'national' airline, although it's a lowcost... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ken M. 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2012 Be sad to see MA go down. Only flown with them once on a BUD-AMS flight about 10 years ago.. I thought they were very good. Remember the flight as they gave Y passengers ice cream which was unusual on short intra-European trips at the time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Izanee 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2012 Flew MA on LGW-BUD and return.. Excellent crew, great service. Sad day Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zamir 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2012 From Flightradar24 tweets flightradar24 Flightradar24.com Hungarian Malev has ceased operations this morning. Last flight seems to be MA745. flightradar24.com/MAH745 2 minutes ago Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted February 3, 2012 RIP MA... My heart go to all hard-working MA staff without a job now....guess management, who is to blame, will be 'high and dry'... BUD will also have about a 50% decrease in income... Had 2 excellent return flights with them 3-4 years ago AMS-BUD v.v. Sad to see them go... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kris Kim 0 Report post Posted February 4, 2012 Malev is now taken off the oneworld website, but Mexicana is still on Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JuliusWong 0 Report post Posted February 4, 2012 Malev is now taken off the oneworld website, but Mexicana is still on They are not taking Mexicana off anytime soon as there are so much rumours of resurrection every now and then, but seriously oneworld?? Mexicana is not going to come back anytime soon unless they have really rich financial backing in the competitive Mexican skies. FYI, all Malev B737s were flown being flown to Shannon for repossesion. All the B737s are ILFC aircraft except HA-LOU which belongs to Macquarie AirFinance. The Q400s belong to Sumitomo Mitsui. CRJ 200ER HA-LNA and B767-200ER HA-LHB are both owned by Malev. The crew doing the flights to Shannon flown back to Budapest with Q400 HA-LQD .......Our heart goes out to all employees and immediate families....Really sad for those pilots doing ferry flights...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted February 4, 2012 Good to see another (to be) Oneworld member is stepping into the Hungarian market: AB will start flights to BUD as soon as possible from as low as 49Euro one-way... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
