Great Plains Airlines' parts are auctioned off by a bankruptcy judge.
(AP) (excerpt) Another chapter in the demise of Great Plains Airlines was written Wednesday when the spare parts left behind by the now-defunct carrier were auctioned to a German airline for more than a quarter of a million dollars.
Private Wings Flugcharter, a Berlin-based airline that offers business charter and freight services, submitted the winning bid of $285,000 at an auction conducted by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terrence Michael.
Great Plains filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in January 2004. It converted its bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation in 2005 after executives said efforts to find financing and investors had been unsuccessful.
The airline was launched with a private sector-government partnership in April 2001 with about $57 million in tax credits and government-backed loans. The business plan called for the airline to fly regional jet aircraft directly from Oklahoma City and Tulsa to the East and West coasts, bypassing hub airports.
But five months after Great Plains' first flight, the airline industry went into a tailspin as the result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Creditors repossessed five 32-passenger Fairchild Dornier 328 aircraft belonging to Great Plains after it abandoned commercial service in January 2004. The airline stopped flying charter flights in February 2004.
Posted at 6/22/2006 08:53:00 AM
