Smartwings will offer vouchers for CSA tickets, money will not be returned

Smartwings will offer passengers who have purchased a ticket for a Smartwings flight from a CSA subsidiary, which was subsequently canceled due to a pandemic, a replacement voucher for any other airline flight. The voucher will be of the same value as the unused ticket. Payments for these Smartwings tickets will not be refunded. The company announced this in a press release today. Passengers with unused tickets purchased through CSA can also continue to request a refund, but they can also apply to CSA. However, they are now in insolvency.

Exchange will be possible for tickets that passengers have not used yet. Passengers will have to apply by the end of July this year, Smartwings will then issue them with an electronic voucher. The voucher will be of the same value as the original ticket valid for 12 months on any of the regular Smartwings flights.

Refund requests can still be submitted to the sellers of the original ticket. This means that if they were the original CSA seller, passengers must request a refund from them. In such a case, however, the return will be governed by the rules of the current insolvency proceedings, as CSA is currently in bankruptcy.

Smartwings and CSA, which belong to the same group, plan to fly from Czech airports to 74 destinations in Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, UAE during the summer season. , Cape Verde, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Malta, Ukraine or Iceland. Smartwings and CSA will run regular flights to 49 destinations, and there will be charter flights to another 25 destinations. In addition, airlines will fly from their bases in Poland, France, Hungary, Slovakia and the Canary Islands.

Smartwings and CSA found themselves in economic trouble due to the coronavirus crisis and flight cancellations. Since the end of March, Smartwings has been drawing a loan from four banks for two billion crowns. In total, the carrier's financing will exceed seven billion crowns, additional money will be provided by Czech shareholders, support for leasing companies and restructuring. The company's debts are around 6.6 billion crowns. On the other hand, the CSA subsidiaries, which are now in bankruptcy, did not reach for the loan. The court imposed on them after their own motion.

The company records unpaid receivables for approximately 1.8 billion crowns, of which one billion in unpaid or unpaid passenger tickets, and the company owes the rest to suppliers. According to the company, the goal of reorganizing the company is to save it.

Source: CTK