Defunct Lynx Air selling off life jackets, oxygen masks in bid to recoup losses

CALGARY — Lynx Air is selling off everything from life jackets to oxygen masks as it tries to recoup a portion of the losses it suffered before filing for creditor protection earlier this year.

The defunct discount carrier says in court filings that it has worked out deals with a pair of aviation companies abroad to sell parts and equipment ranging from seats to tires and transponders.

Any hope of gains on the airline's nine aircraft themselves was dashed after the half-dozen leasing companies behind them cancelled their deals and took back the planes.

The filings ask Alberta's Court of King's Bench to approve agreements that would see New Hampshire's Aero3 repair company buy more than 50 wheels and brakes and the Cayman Islands-based BOC Aviation leasing company snap up 79 other items, from food carts to a single garbage can.

Lynx, which owed more than $186 million when it sought creditor protection in late February, says that a third company "unexpectedly terminated negotiations" around four turbofan jet engines.

The shutdown of the Calgary-based carrier three months ago came as the budget airlines that have cropped up in recent years face ongoing financial pressures — if they've survived at all — amid industry consolidation and fallout from the travel sector implosion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2024.

The Canadian Press