Collapsed Airline’s Debt ‘Up to 25m’

But claims that Zoom Airlines could owe three times this were rejected.The UK and Canada-based firm grounded all flights last week as it prepared to go into administration, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.Reports yesterday claimed that papers lodged with Office of Superintendent of Bankruptcy in Canada indicated Zoom owed 62.7m.But a spokesman for the firm said: “The position of the management of Zoom is that that is not an accurate reflection of the debts of the company.”We don’t know how this figure has been arrived at.”Much of the Canadian figure was put down to millions of dollars in advanced ticket sales, but the spokesman said it was unlikely the financial problems would have come to a head if this had been the case.”It’s likely that the debts will be substantial,” the spokesman added.”Our estimate is that it’s likely to be in the 20-25m category but it’s not possible for anyone at this time to give a definitive figure.”He added that Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) monitoring would not have allowed debt levels to reach the levels reported.Zoom was founded by Scottish brothers John and Hugh Boyle and operated from five UK airports.It blamed its financial difficulties on a massive jump in fuel bills as a result of the high cost of oil.Passengers on both sides of the Atlantic faced spending hundreds on alternative flights to return home.The firm had attempted to secure a re-financing package that would have kept its aircraft flying. The airline is based at Gatwick and employs abut 450 staff in Canada and 260 in the UK.

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