It would seem that powdair is in trouble – this new airline that planned to launch services between the Swiss airport of Sion and six UK airports, as well as Antwerp in Belgium in a fortnight’s time, has announced that it is facing financial difficulties.
In a statement issued this afternoon the Dublin-based company, which says it has sold tickets to more than 5,000 passengers, said,
“This morning our key financial backer walked away from the powdair journey for personal reasons,” and continued, “we need to secure at least £3 million to operate this season and at least £1 million by the end of this week in order to operate a reduced but efficient flight schedule this season.”
The company says its options are to postpone launching for a year, in which case it states that those who have bought tickets will receive a full refund, or to raise the required funds from what it describes as, “…our army of passionate powdair supporters.”
“Just as the powdair operation begins to snowball, today’s setback is both unexpected and potentially disastrous for our airline, booked passengers and resort partners. Operational systems and strategies are already in place, whilst ticket sales are very strong and exceeding expectations. powdair is ready to go, but we now desperately need investment. I’d personally like to hear from anyone interested in owning either a small or large part of our airline,” said Sean Pettit, powdairs’s Chief Financial Officer.
powdair was recently awarded ‘Best Start-up Business’ in the World Snow Awards. UK airports it has on its flight route are London City, London Luton, London Southend, Southampton, Bristol and Manchester.
