Swiss charter carrier Privatair has filed for insolvency, just months after customer Lufthansa dropped a wet lease agreement with the airline.

Privatair had previously operated wet lease services on behalf of carrier including Swiss, SAS, Gulf Air and Lufthansa, most notably with B737 aircraft configured in a spacious all business class layout.

But the carrier faced a number of setbacks in recent times, including the decision by Lufthansa to suspend its Frankfurt-Pune route – a service operated by Privatair. The German carrier has since announced plans to restart the route, although this time using its own Airbus A319 aircraft.

And last year SAS rostered its own A330 aircraft onto a route between Copenhagen and Boston – a service which had previously been operated by Privatair.

In a statement the carrier said:

“It is with great sadness that PrivatAir SA, Switzerland, announces today that it has filed to commence insolvency proceeding in Switzerland. Likewise, its subsidiary PrivatAir GmbH in Germany has also filed for insolvency today.

“Over the past few weeks, a number of events have had a significant impact on the companies’ future business forecast and viability, which forced the companies to file for insolvency.

“PrivatAir was created in 1977 in Switzerland. It directly employs today 226 staff in Switzerland, Germany and Portugal. It also uses the services of 65 crew members via an external contracting entity for its operation in Middle East (Jeddah – Riyadh shuttle).

“It will remain known as a truly unique company built by amazing people who showed extreme dedication to their work and unmatched service levels, and proved many times that the impossible in aviation could be made possible.”

privatair.com