The Smartwings subsidiary CSA filed for insolvency at the competent court in Prague. The carrier has already cut around 300 employees and only this week reported the remaining 430 employees to the employment office for dismissal.

A spokeswoman for CSA Czech Airlines confirmed that the Skyteam member has already filed for bankruptcy in court. A reorganization is sought as part of the procedure. The most important creditors are said to be behind the airline.

So far, CSA has not received any state aid as the government requested participation in return. This was strictly rejected by the owner Smartwings. He was able to take advantage of secured loans, but the funds are intended for his own flight operations. As a result, CSA has not received any support so far.

In addition, a moratorium that the government had enacted to protect air carriers expired on Saturday. Previously tried a state maintenance company two ATR72 on the chain to lay, however, a court ordered the Release to. Already with the Registration of the 430 employees at the employment office, a prompt bankruptcy application was expected.

The airline CSA wants to maintain flight operations for the time being. How long this succeeds depends on the decisions of the court. In the previous year, the small airline made a loss of around 60 million euros. Owner Smartwings was the second European airline to bring the Boeing 737 Max back into commercial flight operations.