Claims He Had No Choice

Michael Leblanc apologized to the Canadian Press in a Thursday interview for shutting down his airline, leaving roughly 17,000 passengers stranded and 1,350 employees jobless. The shutdown occurred as many Canadians were preparing to travel for March Break.

"Very clearly, I have deep sorrow for the people whose plans at school break were shattered, but we didn't have any choice," Leblanc told The Canadian Press. He hopes to be able to save part of the airline, but is uncertain whether that will be possible. The company has been granted one month to create a plan for its creditors.

Air traffic controller Nav Canada and the Greater Toronto Aiports Authority are owed millions according to earlier reports in The Globe and Mail. Documents filed in Quebec Superior Court said that Jetsgo had lost about $55 million recently, and that the airline had a negative net worth of about $19 million.

"When we had to make the tough choice of ceasing operations, that's because we couldn't ensure any more a reliable operation," said Leblanc while defending his decision to ground the fleet last week. He believes that safety could have been compromised if they had declared bankruptcy first, as crews and mechanics may not have shown up for work.

Ticket prices have gone up as much as 50 percent in the week since Jetsgo folded. Air Canada and WestJet had said that ticket prices were expected to rise. Leblanc claimed that the other companies had continually undercut his prices every time they had tried to raise them. "We have only 10 per cent of the market; it's not us who lead the industry," he said.

He also felt some pain in his pocket book, as he claims to have lost $7 million from the demise of the airline. Jetsgo employees had some difficulty cashing their final paychecks at first, until the banks were convinced that there was money in the company accounts to cover them.

FMI: www.jetsgo.net