Air Australia grounded

Founded in 1991 as Strategic Aviation, Air Australia has gone into the local equivalent of administration/Chapter 11 and stopped flying.  Some 4,000 passengers were affected.  In recent times it has specialised in charter and holiday flights.  Based in Brisbane, in 2009 it took over OzJet, another low-cost operator, at that time in trouble.  As of last week Air Australia was operating three Airbus A320 series and a pair of Airbus A330-200s

Both Qantas and Virgin Australia have offered to help out stranded passengers bringing them home at the same price as they paid Air Australia.  They then should be able to claim back airfare and in some cases extra expenses under their insurance and credit card arrangements.

Newly appointed administrator Mark Korda spoke to a hastily organised press briefing.  "Overnight the company was unable to refuel its planes in Phuket.  The directors appointed us at 01:30 this morning and the boys have been working throughout the night to deal with what's a very difficult situation.”  He called for immediate expressions of interest from potential buyers. www.airaustralia.com

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