Spare parts from liquidated Great Plains Airlines have been sold at an auction to a German company for $285,000, marking a final chapter in the downfall of a regional carrier that planned to fly directly from Oklahoma City and Tulsa to the East and West coasts.
Great Plains was launched in April 2001 with $57 million (euro45 million) in tax credits and government-backed loans, five months before the aviation industry went into a tailspin because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It filed for bankruptcy reorganization in January 2004 and went through liquidation in 2005 after executives said efforts to find financing and investors had been unsuccessful.
Private Wings Flugcharter, a Berlin-based airline that offers business charter and freight services, submitted the winning bid of $285,000 (euro226,514) at an auction conducted Wednesday by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terrence Michael.
An inventory list of the miscellaneous spare parts sold to the German company included items such as an avionics fan, circuit breaker, cockpit door tag, emergency first aid kit and infant life preserver.
Creditors repossessed five 32-passenger Fairchild Dornier 328 aircraft belonging to Great Plains after it abandoned commercial service in January 2004.
Court-appointed bankruptcy trustee Patrick J. Malloy III filed and then dropped a lawsuit claiming the chief executive officer of Great Plains and seven directors breached their fiduciary duties by refusing to negotiate a sale to potential buyers in the summer of 2003 when the airline was insolvent. Malloy expects to file a similar complaint in state court.
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