About 2,500 creditors have so far applied for CSA insolvency, a large part of which are passengers

So far, 2,487 creditors have filed their claims in insolvency proceedings with CSA, insolvency administrator Michael Šefčík from Inskol said today. At the same time, the total number of creditors is expected to increase by hundreds to thousands more. A large part of them are passengers who demand a refund of tickets for canceled flights. Many clients are collectively represented by some companies or law firms, which increases the costs of these customers. However, the rate of reimbursement of purchased tickets is uncertain. According to the sellers, most passengers use replacement vouchers in exchange for canceled tickets.

CSA has been in bankruptcy since March. The reason is unpaid receivables, which according to the company amount to approximately CZK 1.8 billion. According to the company, in the insolvency petition, about a billion crowns from receivables are unpaid or missed tickets for canceled flights.

Instead of canceled and unpaid CSA tickets, passengers currently have the choice of either registering for insolvency proceedings or using a replacement voucher for the ticket. Clients and ticket agencies refer to these options. According to Student Agency, an estimated 40 percent of their clients signed up with CSA tickets through the agency. In addition, however, many customers signed up directly without informing the seller.

The claims of many passengers are claimed en masse by some companies or law firms, their services cost an average of around a thousand crowns. For example, Student Agency offers its clients the opportunity to apply through a law firm. Its representative, Zdeněk Hrouzek, said today that clients are mainly interested in the possible level of satisfaction of their registered receivables, ie whether they will receive 100 percent of the paid ticket price. However, according to Hrouzek, this is not yet clear, because CSA has not yet disclosed the amount of its assets. "In any case, as a representative of creditors, I will be interested in whether and what assets have been included in the assets, how such assets will be monetized and under what conditions," he said.

It was the uncertain prospects for the payment of tickets through insolvency proceedings that led a large part of passengers to use replacement vouchers in the same value as the canceled flight from the carrier. CSA continues to fly despite the declaration of bankruptcy. Their parent company Smartwings also offers a replacement voucher for canceled tickets for flights purchased from CSA.

"Clients are very interested in issuing vouchers. Clients believe that they will travel in the summer and Smartwings will operate a number of summer destinations from which clients can choose," Student Agency spokesman Aleš Ondrůj told ČTK. Josef Trejbal from the Letuška.cz ticket portal also confirms his interest in turning an unused ticket into a voucher or a new ticket. According to him, replacement seems to be the best solution for passengers in the current situation, and the seller therefore recommends this solution to its customers.

The airline was hit by the effects of the coronavirus epidemic, and had to cancel a large number of connections during the crisis. At the end of February, the company filed for insolvency. In this context, CSA pointed out that this is one of the steps in the planned reorganization. The court will assess all registered claims in June. A meeting of all creditors should take place immediately afterwards. It should be decided on another solution to CSA's bankruptcy.

Source: CTK and CSA