Iceland’s airport just impounded an Air Berlin plane


the front of an airplane on a runway

When you don’t pay your airport landing fees bad things happen. In this case ISAVIA, the operator of Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport decided to ground an Air Berlin aircraft on Thursday night over unpaid fees. ISAVIA issued a statement noting that the unpaid fees are old – from prior to the bankruptcy filing – and that they are not protected by that process.

Airport operator, Isavia, grounded an Air Berlin Aircraft at Keflavik International Airport tonight due to unpaid airport charges. The action is based on provisions of the Aviation Act, to guarantee payment of the charges.

Air Berlin filed a petition of the opening of insolvency proceedings in August and the unpaid airport charges incurred prior the insolvency period.  The action will inevitably affect the passengers who had booked a flight with Air Berlin, but this action is considered to be the final resource to ensure payment for services already provided.  Isavia will have additional member of staff located at the airport to assist those who will be affected by this action if needed.



Read More: Air Berlin files for bankruptcy protection

Needless to say, That’s a lot of passengers who are not enjoying the end of their Iceland vacation the way they planned.



Clearly someone at Air Berlin doesn’t quite understand the impact of bankruptcy protection laws in the various jurisdictions around the world. Not paying old bills and then getting those debts suspended with an insolvency filing does work some places; just look what Alitalia did in the USA to handle the debt it owes to the terminal operator at JFK.

Read More: Alitalia’s bankruptcy to protect 30% of revenues

There’s only another week of Air Berlin operations expected anyways so perhaps this is all a moot point, but expecting anything smooth with the carrier over the next 7 days is probably a mistake.

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Seth Miller

I'm Seth, also known as the Wandering Aramean. I was bit by the travel bug 30 years ago and there's no sign of a cure. I fly ~200,000 miles annually; these are my stories. You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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