Sapa
Airline 1Time was about to be sold to British low-cost airline FastJet before it applied for liquidation, trade union Solidarity said yesterday.
“The company, FastJet, pulled out of the transaction at the last minute… after 1Time decided to apply for liquidation as a last resort,” union spokesman Marius Croucamp said.
“The court application for provisional liquidation will be lodged today [yesterday].”
1Time spokeswoman Refilwe Masemola declined to comment on Solidarity’s claim, saying “a full statement will be released tomorrow [today] with every detail of what happened”.
FastJet is the holding firm for African airline Fly540, which operates from Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Angola.
Croucamp estimated that 540 workers would be left jobless by the liquidation.
“This morning during a staff meeting, employees were asked to complete forms according to which they are preferential claimants and could be first in line to get paid should the company be liquidated,” Croucamp said.
On Friday scores of passengers were left stranded when the low-cost airline announced it had applied for liquidation and stopped all operations. It had about R320 million in short-term debt and had been in talks with creditors since March.