Romania’s airline Dan Air loses payment operator after insolvency request

On November 2, Dan Air accused Netopia of having retained EUR 1.5 million paid by 10,000 passengers for their flight tickets between October 23 and November 2, News.ro reported. The payment operator, as quoted by Economica.net, explained that the measure was stipulated in the bilateral contract, triggered by the airline’s insolvency request and aimed at protecting customers’ rights.

Also on November 2, Bacău Airport announced that it would ask Dan Air to pay in advance for its services and would propose a debt repayment schedule “under conditions similar to those applied in 2025”. Bacău Airport said it had requested Dan Air’s insolvency on October 29, according to Hotnews.ro.

Dan Air filed its own insolvency request on October 23 to restructure its debts, primarily those owed to the Environmental Fund Administration (AFM), but also to airports such as Bacău. The company said at the time that its flights would remain unaffected.

Dan Air reported turnover of RON 224 million (EUR 45 million) and a profit of RON 11 million in 2025, but also debt of RON 126 million (EUR 25 million) at the end of the year, up from RON 90 million a year earlier.

On November 2, Dan Air announced that Netopia had unilaterally terminated the contract after the airline refused to accept what it called “abusive conditions”, according to News.ro. Up to that point, flights had not been affected, with operating costs being borne “from the company’s own funds and by people close to it”, according to Dan Air.

Dan Air said that Netopia terminated the contract just one hour before the court hearing at which the airline had requested the resumption of payments and the unblocking of the EUR 1.5 million.

Dan Air believes that the termination represents a measure of retaliation and an abuse of the economic dependence that any airline has on its payment processor.

Dan Air currently operates scheduled commercial flights on several routes from Henri Coandă Airport in Bucharest and George Enescu Airport in Bacău.