Spanish airline Spanair collapsed, stopping operations and canceling flights on Friday ( January 27 ), after Qatar Airways ended takeover talks and killed hopes for future financing. Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded, but, according to the most recent figures issued, over 22,000 have already caught flights with other airlines. Airline companies Iberia, Vueling, Air Europa, Lufthansa and Ryanair have all stepped in to fly Spanair passengers. The first week of cancellations affects more than 80,000 ticket holders.

Spain's fourth largest airline, Spanair, has been in trouble in recent years. The company, established in 1986, reported operating losses of around EUR 115 million for 2010. Other budget airlines made legal challenges against the Barcelona based airline over subsidies from the regional government and over a Spanair flight crash during take off in 2008, killing 154 people. The company may face fines over its cessation of operations.

Spanair's three main rivals, Iberia, Vueling and Ryanair were reported by Spanish newspaper El Pais as already 'fighting for the cake'. Vueling's shares climbed 25 percent and the three companies have not been slow in their efforts to win the extra business Spanair's demise provides. Extra flights on routes shared with the defunct airline and new services have been announced to fill the gap in the market. Both Vueling and Ryanair will give priority to former Spanair employees when recruiting, according to information from the companies, but have made no firm offers to find jobs for the over 2,000 staff facing redundancy due to the airline's collapse.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com