# Spanair Threatened With Fine

> The government in Spain are threatening legal action against the collapsed airline Spanair. The company closed its operations without notice which left around 23,000 people stranded and looking for re...

Published: 2012-01-30

The government in Spain are threatening legal action against the collapsed airline Spanair. The company closed its operations without notice which left around 23,000 people stranded and looking for rescheduled flights.

The collapse seems to point to further problems within the Spanish economy along with many other euro zone economies. The company based in Barcelona has been the flagship of the Catalonian region of Spain which has been seeking independence from Madrid.

Spanair was seeking to convince Qatar Airways to enter into an agreement in order to ease funding problems. However the company was also facing problems from low-cost rivals who argued that the funding it received was illegal.

The company was formed by SAS a Scandinavian carrier way back in 1986, offering flights from Spain to the Balearic Islands. They later tried unsuccessfully to expand into the transatlantic market. In 2009 the company was taken over by a private consortium based in Catalonia with SAS keeping just an 11% stake.

The news follows the collapse of Lehman Brothers just months earlier which itself triggered a financial crisis.

Talk in the industry suggests that the collapse was a flying shipwreck that was waiting to happen. Also questions have been asked as to whether Qatar Airways offer was indeed genuine or not. Qatar Airways was seeking to invest in a European airline after their rivals Etihad had bought a share in Air Berlin in recent months.

Spaniar has very few assets in order to pay back debts. It has a fleet of 36 aircraft all of which were leased. Their demise could lead to 4,000 job losses.

Spain as a whole has faced many problems over recent years. The country had gone through a boom period over the last decade with many new airports built. Some of those airports are now shut or as best idle.

Canonical: https://jethiredirect.com/news/spanair-threatened-with-fine/

## Related

- [All articles](https://jethiredirect.com/news/)
- [Private jet hire](https://jethiredirect.com/private-jet-hire/)
- [Request a quote](https://jethiredirect.com/quote/)