Wataniya Airways delay 'future determining' shareholder talks

08/07/2011 00:00 AST

Kuwait's Wataniya Airways will postpone an ad hoc shareholders' general assembly meeting intended to discuss its future to a later date, after an incomplete quorum, it announced on Thursday.

The company ceased its operations in March earlier this year after running into financial problems, following a two-year lifespan.

The airline had announced it would be entering a process to determine the future of the company, and a General Assembly meeting intended to discuss the issue witnessed a mere 20.23 percent shareholder turnout, instead of the legally-required 75 percent, according to Chairman and Managing Director Abdulsalam Al-Bahar.

The company's talks with Kuwaiti Aviation Lease and Finance Company (ALAFCO), to whom it owes 70 million US dollars, have also failed, Al-Bahar also said.

"The banks have filed lawsuits and they're demanding legal measures against the company," Al-Bahar told reporters today. He didn't name the banks.

Meanwhile, two local banks; Burgan Bank and the National Bank of Kuwait have demanded their loans to Wataniya of 16 million Kuwaiti dinars and five million dinars respectively, with the airline unable to meet their demands.

Al-Bahar added that there are currently no foreign investors willing to purchase a share in the company.

Shareholders in Kuwait National Airlines, the holding company that owns Wataniya Airways, in May postponed a vote on raising the company's capital to 65 million dinars, pending agreement by the company on Alafco's demands. Kuwaiti carrier Wataniya Airways halted operations in March, two years after starting up.

Agencies