FRANKFURT — German airline Blue Wings, part-owned by Alexander Lebedev, has shut down flight operations for now as it grapples with its financial problems, a spokesman for the company said Wednesday.
Passengers would either be booked on another company’s flights or get a refund, the spokesman said, confirming an earlier report in Rheinische Post.
This is the second time in a year that Blue Wings has had to ground its planes. Last year, it briefly lost its license on concerns that it did not have sufficient assets to be viable in the future and had to be bailed out by Lebedev.
Lebedev at that time offered his stake in Blue Wings to Aeroflot for 1 euro, but no deal came about.
Blue Wings said last week that it was facing serious financial trouble again, adding that its workers had been paid about half of their November wages and none for December.
The spokesman for Blue Wings said the company was seeking a new investor and aimed to solve its problems as quickly as possible.
The airline carried 1.1 million passengers in 2008 and generated sales of 154 million euros ($224 million).
Lebedev owns 48 percent of Blue Wings via Zurich-based investment company Alpstream. Cyprus-based Nondwell Investment and CEO Joern Hellwig each hold 26 percent.
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