Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The collapse of Batavia Air created havoc in Indonesia's airports. In a statement released Thursday evening, the company announced that all its flights would be grounded as of midnight Friday. Thousands of passengers were left stranded unaware of the airliner's situation. This came after the Central Jakarta District Court declared the company bankrupt following a petition by a US company.
At Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, hundreds of desperate passengers scrambled for information about their flights. With the company failing to provide follow-up details, the situation began to get out of hand as passengers demanded explanations and alternative flights.
After several hours, Batavia Air's spokeswoman Elly Simanjutak issued a statement, saying that the company took full responsibility to refund the tickets and alternative flights for stranded passengers.
Yesterday, Agus Iskandar, presiding judge at the Jakarta Commercial Court, ruled in favour of a bankruptcy petition filed by US-based International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) after Batavia Air failed to pay a US$ 4.7 million debt for the purchase of two planes financed by ILFC through a leasing scheme.
In June 2012, Malaysian-based AirAsia had expressed interest in buying the Indonesian carrier. The negotiations that followed led to a memorandum of understanding that was officially announced in Jakarta. However, the deal fell through weeks later because buyers decided it was too risky.
Air Batavia had 11 per cent of Indonesia's domestic market. It also served Southeast Asia and China as well as Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia during Hajj.
