Brazil’s ITA runs out of cash, suspends flight operations

The Brazilian civil aviation authority (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil – ANAC) has suspended ITA Transportes Aéreos’ air operator’s certificate (AOC) after the airline abruptly halted flight operations late on Friday, December 17.

Brazilian overland transport specialist Grupo Itapemirim, which owns ITA, said in a statement that it is working closely with ANAC to mitigate the sudden suspension which, it said, was brought on by a need for urgent “internal restructuring”. It gave no indication as to when ITA may resume service.

ITA serves 15 cities throughout Brazil using a fleet of five leased A320-200s. However, since its launch in June, it has struggled to gain financial traction with various reports emerging of late and delayed payments to creditors and staff earlier this summer.

According to Panrotas, prior to the grounding, airline CEO Adalberto Bogsan said he had been expecting BRL200 million reais (USD35.1 million) from an unspecified Brazilian bank, only for the talks to founder resulting in no funds being released.

Grupo Itapemirim has already had to fend off legal challenges over its decision to launch an airline despite still being under judicial administration itself. The suspension of ITA’s activities, according to the company, will not affect Viação Itapemirim’s road transport services which will continue as normal.