An insolvent company owned by Romanian investor Nelu Iordache, the former owner of low cost airline Blue Air, may recover the airline’s assets after five years.

Blue Air is now the second-biggest airline operating in Romania, ahead of state-owned TAROM.

A Romanian court decided to cancel the contract for the transfer of Blue Air’s assets from Iordache’s firm to Blue Air Airline Management Solutions, a company controlled by four Romanian individuals, reports local Ziarul Financiar. The sale contract was signed in May 2013, when Iordache’s business empire was shaking amid several investigations targeting him. The sale was coordinated by local restructuring group CITR, which was managing the insolvency of Iordache’s biggest company, road construction group Romstrade.

Blue Air’s assets, consisting of the brand and client base, were sold for some RON 6 million (EUR 1.3 million). The company that owned the airline, which was controlled by Romstrade, was not in insolvency at that time, but had financial difficulties. After the sale, it went into insolvency.

The new owners have relaunched Blue Air and turned it into the second-biggest airline operating in Romania, after Hungarian low-cost operator Wizz Air. Blue Air estimated a turnover of some EUR 400 million and some 5 million passengers in 2017. The company operates 29 aicraft and has close to 1,500 employees, covering over 100 European routes.

Nelu Iordache was accused in 2012 that he using some EUR 5.6 million worth of funds for the construction of the Nadlac-Arad highway for financing the airline. In December 2017, a Romanian court found him guilty and sentenced him to six years and three months in jail, but the decision is not final.

editor@romania-insider.com