Shannon-based airline EUjet has said it will continue operating flights out of Ireland for the foreseeable future after its parent company said funding talks with its banks had broken down.
A spokesman for the airline, which flies to 10 European destinations from Ireland including Nice, Amsterdam and Ibiza, said it was "business as usual" and that it has no plans to cancel flights in the foreseeable future.
A spokesman for the Commission for Aviation Regulation said that while the airline still has its licence to operate flights, a requirement of retaining the licence is that the company has a certain amount of financial backing.
The spokesman said that the regulator is watching the situation closely and will meet with the airline later this week to discuss the matter.
Yesterday Planestation, which owns EUjet, requested that its own shares be suspended on the London Stock Exchange following the breakdown of talks with its banks. Last month, Planestation said that EUjet would carry less passengers than forecast this year and would therefore require more money to continue operations. The company had planned to fund the shortfall through asset sales, but yesterday said talks with its banks over the past 48 hours had not been positive and that the banks were no longer prepared to support the company with additional facilities. Its shares were suspended until further notice.
EUjet, which was set up in 2002 by former Ryanair executive PJ McGoldrick, was taken over by UK-based Planestation in September last year. Planestation already owned a 30 per cent stake in EUjet, which it bought in May 2004.
Mr McGoldrick had established the airline with his son to provide aircraft and crew to operate scheduled services for Air France, Lufthansa's low-cost airline, Germanwings, and Italy's budget airline, Volare.
In Ireland, EUjet currently operates scheduled flights from Dublin to Nice and Amsterdam, and from Shannon to Malaga, Ibiza, Palma de Majorca and Murcia San Javier in Spain, Faro in Portugal, Geneva, Amsterdam, Kent.
EUjet carried 35,414 passengers in June, 1.8 per cent less than in the previous month.
Its load factor, or proportion of seats filled, was 55.8 per cent in June, compared with 55.4 per cent in May.
