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Six years since airline left passengers stranded… And still no money has been paid back

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North and north-east travellers who were left out of pocket by the collapse of a Scottish airline more than six years ago are still in the dark about their chances of getting any of their money back.

The sudden demise of budget carrier Flyglobespan in December 2009 left thousands of passengers stranded abroad and many more with worthless bookings.

More than 600 people lost their jobs.

In March 2011, administrators at PwC said they had received claims of about £40million from 40,000 creditors of the airline’s parent, Globespan Group; mostly passengers who paid for flights that never took off.

About 80% of these travellers were believed to be covered by credit and debit card protection schemes – meaning they should get full refunds – but thousands of others who paid by cash or debit cards, with no safety net, were not so lucky.

Secured and preferential creditors have since paid in full but the rest are likely to get only a fraction of what they are owed, if anything.

The position is complicated by PwC still not being sure how much money it can claw back from credit-card processor E-Clear, which itself went into liquidation and is estimated to have owed Globespan £34million around the time of the travel firm’s collapse.

In an administrators’ report just filed at Companies House, PwC – whose fees to date total more than £1.5million – said: “We are continuing to monitor progress of the (E-Clear) case and are in regular contact with the joint liquidators.

“The joint liquidators have advised that a dividend is likely to be paid to the unsecured creditors of E-Clear, although the timing and quantum of the dividend is not yet known.”

On the likely outcome for Globespan’s ordinary creditors, PwC said administrators are unable to provide a “reliable” estimate of the likely dividend.

“There are material uncertainties regarding future net realisations and the final level of creditor claims,” it added.

But PwC also warned any dividend to unsecured creditors, including passengers who lost money, was unlikely to exceed 2p in the pound.

Flyglobespan flew from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports. Its first plane from Aberdeen took off in late 2006 and by the following summer there were flights from the Granite City to Palma, Faro, Alicante, Murcia, Barcelona, Tenerife and Cyprus.

Meanwhile, administrators for Grampian Construction, which went out of business in January 2013, with more than 30 staff laid off, have said most creditors are unlikely to see a dividend.

Royal Bank of Scotland, owed £5.85million and rising, “will not recover its indebtedness in full”, accountancy firm KPMG added.

Huntly-based based Grampian Construction, set up in 1997 and whose sole director was Kenny Riddoch, collapsed with £6million of debts.