Will they? Won't they? The chances of the first scheduled seaplane operator in Croatia taking to the skies this summer looks a little more remote on May 5, 2017, as European Coastal Airlines initiates the pre-bankruptcy process. However...
It was the tourism project which had (and has) the potential to set Croatia apart from the rest in the Mediterranean.
An integrated network of seaplane connections along the Croatian coast and islands, slashing connection times and truly delivering the quality transfer service to do justice to the top tourism destination Croatia claims to be.
First the bad news...
After 17 years of trying - including two years of operating - it would appear that the European Coastal Airlines story is heading for a sad end. Finally launched in August 2014, with the first scheduled seaplane flight in modern European aviation history from Resnik near Split Airport to downtown Jelsa, it would appear that the ECA Twin Otters will fly no more over Croatia's coastal skies - at least in their current ownership.
It was a project full of potential, which took its passengers to hitherto improbable angles and views of Croatia. That inaugural flight to Jelsa took in two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a low flyover of Zlatni Rat near Bol, and a summer's worth of spectacular memories. Memories which were repeated en route to Korcula, Mali Losinj, Rab, Pula, Lastovo, Dubrovnik, Rijeka, and even internationally to Ancona and Pescara.
It was a project which sadly - at least in its first phase - did not succeed.
After a decision to ground the planes by the Croatian Civil Aviation Authority in August 2016 at the height of the season, the airline never recovered from an estimated loss in seven figures from the more than 5,000 cancelled tickets as a result of the grounding. Although one plane did briefly take to the skies once more, ECA's CEO Klaus Dieter Martin then announced that he would suspend operations until "the administrational situation has been cleared and giving us the opportunity to operate in a safe and trustworthy marketplace."
Fast forward a few months and the anticipation of a new season with seaplanes, and it would appear that ECA will not reappear, at least in its current format. A legal directive from the Croatian courts has announced that ECA has iniitiated pre-bankruptcy proceedings, surely the beginning of the end of the company's aspirations in Croatia.
There are of course creditors waiting to be paid, passengers waiting to be refunded. In the public interest, we publish below a tanslation of the court document in full.
A very sad day for an innovative and ground breaking project, but is it the end of the seaplane story? Not quite...
Stay tuned for more details, for my information is that talks are ongoing, and an announcement of The Croatian Seaplane Story: The Sequel is on the way, a totally separate company and business philosophy. More news - and we will only publish official concrete news, as there has been so much speculation - as we get it.
The court document below in full:
1.St-503/2017
REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
COMMERCIAL COURT IN SPLIT
Split, Sukoišanska 6
REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
DECISION
The Commercial Court in Split, represented by the Court Justice Velimir Vuković, as a bankruptcy Justice, in the pre-bankruptcy procedure of the plaintiff EUROPSKI OBALNI PRIJEVOZNIK d.o.o., Kaštel Štafilić, Put Divulja 7, OIB: 24689759592, in order to begin pre-bankruptcy procedures against the debtor, on 2 May 2017
has decided
I. Pre-bankruptcy procedure is initiated against the debtor EUROPSKI OBALNI PRIJEVOZNIK d.o.o., Kaštel Štafilić, Put Divulja 7, OIB: 24689759592.
II. The pre-bankruptcy fiduciary will be Vlaho Monković from Cavtat, Ulica Vlahe Paljetka 12, OIB: 72627093549.
III. All creditors of the debtor EUROPSKI OBALNI PRIJEVOZNIK d.o.o., Kaštel Štafilić, Put Divulja 7, OIB: 24689759592 are hereby invited within fifteen (15) days of the publication of this decision on the web pages of this Court, to report their claims to the competent institution of the Financial Agency on the prescribed form based on the Protocol on Content and Format of Forms for Submittal of Statements in Pre-bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Proceedings.
IV. Secured creditors are hereby invited to cite information of their rights, legal basis of the secured right and exact property of the debtor to which their secured right applies and state whether they renounce or not their right to separate settlement.
Exclusion creditors are hereby invited to cite in their statement information of their rights, legal basis of their exclusion right and exact property of the debtor to which their exclusion right applies.
Secured and exclusion creditors are obligated in their statement to give or deny consent on the delay in reimbursement of the object to which their secured right applies to or isolation of the object to which their exclusion right applies to in order to enact the restructuring plan.
V. The debtor and pre-bankruptcy fiduciary Vlaho Monković from Cavtat, Ulica Vlahe Paljetka 12, are invited in the period of 8 (eight) days to publish lists of reported claims, deliver to the Financial agency written statements of every reported claim, with a mandatory indication of the amount in which the claim is contested and the reason for the contest.
VI. Creditors are hereby invited in the period of 8 (eight) days from the date of statement on reported claims by the debtor and fiduciary, to contest the reported claims they find inexistent, with a mandatory indication of the amount in which the claim is contested and the reason for the contest.
VII. The debtor is hereby invited to enable creditors and fiduciary access to documents which are the basis for claims listed in the list of property and commitments.
VIII. Debtor’s debtors are hereby invited to fulfil their due commitments to the debtor without delay.
IX. Creditors, debtor and fiduciary are hereby invited to take part in the hearing to examine claims on 30 June 2017 at 12.00 hours in the offices of the Commercial Court in Split, Sukoišanska 6, courtroom no. 1, ground floor, room no. 3-4.
X. The decision on the initiation of pre-bankruptcy procedures will be entered in the Court Registry of this Court and published on the web pages of this Court together with the plan of financial restructuring, as well as in public books and registries where the debtor is listed as a bearer of rights.
XI. The decision on the initiation of pre-bankruptcy procedures will be delivered to the Financial Agency with a list of the claims of creditors which the debtor listed in the motion to open pre-bankruptcy procedures.
Explanation
The debtor has on 18 April 2017 on the basis of the provision of Article 25, Item 1 of the Bankruptcy Law (Narodne Novine no. 71/2015 – SZ in text) filed a motion to open pre-bankruptcy procedures.
Upon examination of the restructuring plan it was ascertained that it contains all elements prescribed by the provision of Article 27 of SZ.
The provision of Article 33 of SZ prescribes that the court will, in case all postulates for pre-bankruptcy procedures are met, enact a decision to open pre-bankruptcy procedures. Item 1 of Article 33 of SZ provides for the court to name a fiduciary. Upon the listed provisions and provision of Article 34 of SZ it was decided as stated in the decision under points I. and II.
Points III., V., VI., VII., VIII. and IX. of the decision were enacted based on the provision of Article 34, Item 1.
Secured and exclusion creditors were invited to register and enter statements as indicated in point IV. of the decision in coherence with the provision of Article 38 of SZ, and debtor’s creditors in the pre-bankruptcy procedures who at the time of the initiation of pre-bankruptcy procedures have any property claims against the debtor, are due to send the claim registration to FINA on the prescribed form which contains all elements from Article 36 of SZ, described in the Protocol on Content and Format of Forms for Submittal of Statements in Pre-bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Proceedings (NN 107/15).
The list of creditors and claims cited in the motion which the debtor delivered to the court is sent to the Financial Agency, based on the provision of Article 39 of SZ which prescribes that if a creditor did not file a claim and the claim is listed in the motion to open pre-bankruptcy procedures, it is considered a registered claim.
In Split, 2 May 2017.
JUSTICE
Velimir Vuković
Legal remedy instructions:
Complaints against this decision are allowed within 8 days, beginning from the end of the eighth day of the publication of this decision on the web pages of the court, submitted to this court in 3 copies. They are decided on by the High Commercial Court of Croatia.
