PHILIPSBURG, WILLEMSTAD - On behalf of InselAir, the trustee has placed a lien on the fuel of an aircraft of InterCaribbean Airways at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) on Saturday afternoon. The aircraft had to remain on the ground, much to the surprise of crew and passengers.
Attorney-at-law Rogier van den Heuvel, who is InselAir’s trustee since March 2017 when the airline company was granted stay of payment, placed the lien because InterCaribbean is held responsible for the more than US $11 million which was promised to InselAir’s creditors in a Heads of Agreement signed by InterCaribbean’s directors.
The $500,000-lien is in accordance with the Court verdict in an injunction of December 28, 2018, in which the Judge decided that the airline, which is based in the Turks and Caicos, should pay half a million dollars because it did not meet its obligations.
For the acquisition of ailing airline company InselAir in Curaçao, InterCaribbean committed itself to make available the amount of $11,050,000 over a period of nine years.
But the Judge decided last week that the guarantee in the form of a mortgage act on one of InterCaribbean’s aircraft, which was issued early January, is not sufficient because InterCaribbean itself attached the condition that the security will expire in case the Shares Purchase Agreement has not been signed on April 15, 2019. This would leave the creditors unprotected if something should go wrong with the deal.
At trustee Van den Heuvel’s request, InselAir’s bankruptcy was not declared last week. He plans to hold the Turks and Caicos-based carrier accountable for the amount involved of $11 million.
After the kerosene from InterCaribbean’s aircraft was seized at PJIA with the assistance of a bailiff, Curaçao’s Minister of Economic Development Steven Martina and owner of InterCaribbean Lyndon Gardiner engaged in talks on the matter on Sunday.
The outcome of these talks may be decisive for the next step to be taken, possibly a new legal procedure by the trustee. For InselAir, every day may be decisive in answering the question whether there is still enough cash flow to continue flying without the debts increasing any further.
