Tiara Air (Aruba) (Aruba) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alejandro Muyale has confirmed that several of the airline's former employees have taken it to court in a bid to have it declared bankrupt.
In an interview with the NoticiaCla news site, Muyale said he was dismayed at the group of seven's attempts to wind up the company given that 150 other former employees and some 300 creditors have expressed opinions to the contrary.
They, he said, are keen for Tiara Air to continue trading in the hopes it can secure around USD40 million worth of revenue still locked up in Venezuela. Without that, they have said, they risk being paid a fraction of what they are owed, Muyale said.
Tiara Air attempted to resume operations earlier this year using a reactivated Shorts 360 to run flights to Curaçao. However, the service lasted just three weeks before the aircraft was again grounded for technical reasons.
Since then, the airline has had its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) suspended on account of its lack of activity.
But according to Muyale, the resumption of services is not a priority at this point in time. Instead, he said he was doing everything he could to gather the Venezuela funds which could then be used to settle all outstanding debts.
As it stands, a ruling on the employees' application for bankruptcy is due on November 28.
