Romanian carrier Dan Air enters insolvency

“Reorganisation does not mean bankruptcy. The procedure provides Dan Air with the legal protection necessary to continue its activity and pay its debts according to a reorganisation plan approved by the creditors and confirmed by the insolvency judge,” the company said in a statement, as reported by Adevarul.ro.

Dan Air accused ROMATSA of terminating its contract for the provision of air navigation services just 15 minutes before the hearing on the company's insolvency.

The airline is asking ROMATSA to revoke the termination and claims that, under insolvency law, service providers cannot interrupt services over older debts if current services are paid for.

The company said that the priority must be to protect passengers and continue flights.

Regarding cancelled reservations due to amounts withheld by the Netopia payment processor, Dan Air said passengers must request refunds directly from the company. The airline's representatives claimed that they cannot return the money because it has not reached Dan Air's accounts and the airline no longer has access to the refund platform.

Netopia Payments, in its turn, announced that it had obtained two favourable first-instance rulings in legal proceedings initiated by Dan Air this week.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected a new request for a presidential injunction through which the airline sought the resumption of payment processing services following the termination of the contract. Separately, the amounts retained by the payment processor remain as a guarantee for reimbursing passengers whose flights were cancelled.

As a payment processor, Netopia argued it is responsible for refunding passengers when the service they paid for is not provided by the airline, according to the rules used by international card organisations under the chargeback mechanism. Its purpose is to allow passengers to recover their money when the service they paid for is not provided, regardless of the merchant's financial situation.

Netopia claimed that the measures it applied were taken exclusively in accordance with the contractual provisions governing its relationship with Dan Air. The amounts were not used for commercial purposes by Netopia. They are held separately in special protection accounts and are intended for refunds to passengers.

The company said its priority remains protecting passengers who paid by card.