MONTREAL — SkyGreece Airlines has filed for creditor protection in Canada, a week after halting operations and standing hundreds of passengers.
Lawyers for the Toronto-based company notified the Canadian Transportation Agency on Thursday that it plans to make a proposal to creditors under the Business and Insolvency Act.
It says the court-supervised restructuring proceedings "will ensure that, over the long term, all stakeholders, including passengers, are treated equitably and receive fair compensation for their claims."
The move stays agency proceedings against the company resulting from a claim filed by passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs.
Lukacs has been seeking an order to protect and compensate stranded passengers, which ceased operations Aug. 27 after more than a week of disrupted service.
"This was totally expected," he said of Thursday's court filing, adding that it reinforces his belief that the agency didn't move quickly enough to protect passengers.
Lukacs said he's concerned about how much of their paid fares will be reimbursed under the court process.
The Halifax resident had called on the agency to order SkyGreece to rebook its stranded passengers on other airlines and put up $8.7 million in security to cover passenger claims.
Ernst & Young has been named as monitor, which will communicate with creditors and customers of SkyGreece, which was founded in 2012 and started operations in 2014 with one plane, which has been parked at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
