Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter declares insolvency

Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter (LGW) has filed for insolvency in its own administration with the Düsseldorf Local Court. Today, Wednesday, 22 April 2020, attorney Dirk Andres was appointed as provisional administrator. Attorney Michael Wilbert will also join the company’s management as a further managing director.

In view of the current economic situation in the aviation industry, there is currently no lasting positive economic perspective for the regional airline. The insolvency is thus a direct consequence of the travel restrictions and the general economic situation during the Corona pandemic, which has de facto paralysed global aviation.

Dominik Wiehage, Managing Director of LGW: “We very much regret that we were forced to take this step by the Corona pandemic. We had our 15 De Havilland DHC-8 aircraft in a long-term cooperation exclusively with the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings. Eurowings had to decommission around 90% of its own fleet and terminate the wet-lease contract with LGW at short notice in view of current developments. After the termination of the cooperation by Eurowings, we have made intensive efforts to find employment for our LGW aircraft throughout Europe and will continue to do so in our own management. Due to the almost complete standstill of air traffic, these efforts have unfortunately not been successful so far. As it is also impossible to estimate – as things stand today – whether we will receive public funds to bridge the period until air traffic resumes, especially on the regional routes served by the LGW, we must, therefore, draw the legally necessary conclusions. We are very sorry for the employees of the LGW – all of them are very well trained, very motivated and very customer-oriented employees, for whom we want to keep the option open, especially with our own management, of being involved again in a new start in air traffic.”

Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter currently employs 354 people, 294 of them in the flying sector, 60 work on the ground in technology and administration for the company, which has its headquarters in Düsseldorf. The fleet of 15 De Havilland DHC-8 is currently parked at the airport of the Slovakian capital Bratislava.

22 April 2020