Easyfly has taken an important step in the post-pandemic survival and recovery process by obtaining the approval of its Reorganization Agreement by the Superintendencia de Sociedades de Colombia.
It was signed on Thursday, March 12 and allowed the restructuring of debts for approximately 269 billion Colombian pesos (75 million USD), including «financial relief tools established in the insolvency ecosystem such as the flexibility of payment of obligations and sustainable debt pact» indicated from the Superintendencia de Sociedades de Colombia through a statement.
Under this agreement, which is valid for 10 years, Easyfly was able to restructure its operating model and its liabilities in order to maintain its operations and preserve the jobs.
«The Negociación de Emergencia de Acuerdos de Reorganización (NEAR – Emergency Negotiation of Reorganization Agreements) procedure, established in the Decree-Law 560 of 2020, is a new, practical and rapid mechanism for rescue and business recovery for those debtors who are affected by the causes that motivated the declaration of the Economic, Social and Ecological State of Emergency, which allows to conjure the business crisis and preserve the company and the employment» as the Superintendencia stated.
Easyfly had started 2020 expecting a 33% growth in its operations after having transported 1.7 million passengers in 2019, which had allowed it to capture 6% of the Colombian domestic market. But the pandemic and government restrictions forced it to suspend its regular flights for more than four months, plunging the company into an unsustainable situation that led it to request the business restructuring process in August last year.
2020 closed with just 731,451 passengers transported, with normal values in January and February and a collapse from March that only began to reverse in July with the restart of regular pilot operations, later extended from September.
The airline operates a network of 26 destinations in Colombia with a fleet of 14 ATR 42-600 and 5 ATR 72-600 with an average of 5.4 years old.