Jan. 30--BARCELONA -- The Spanish airline Spanair on Monday filed for bankruptcy after suddenly ceasing operations and leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.
Spanair said it had debts of more than 300 million euros (395 million dollars), according to judicial sources.
Spanair halted operations late Friday after Qatar Airways stopped takeover talks and the debt-ridden Catalan regional government refused to give it further financing.
Spanair had to cancel all its flights, because it did not have money for fuel, according to the daily El Pais.
Spanair chairman Ferran Soriano denied on Monday that the airline was a "bottomless pit" devouring money. If Spanair had more time, it would probably have found a partner to rescue it, he told Catalunya Radio.
About 23,000 passengers were left stranded over the weekend. All of Spanair's 143 scheduled flights were also cancelled on Monday, affecting more than 15,000 passengers.
More than 12,000 of the affected passengers were taken on board by other airlines offering them reduced fares.
The carriers included Spain's biggest airline Iberia, which was however hit by a 24-hour work stoppage by its pilots on Monday. About 120 Iberia flights were cancelled.
Spanair could be fined up to 9 million euros for abandoning its passengers after the Infrastructure Ministry opened penalty proceedings against it.
The bankruptcy also leaves about 2,000 Spanair employees without jobs.
Founded in 1986, Spanair was a subsidiary of SAS until 2009, when it was taken over by a group of Catalan entrepreneurs. The Catalan regional government and the city of Barcelona also pumped more than 30 million euros into the airline, hoping it would help to develop Barcelona as an international hub.
SAS retained about 10 per cent of Spanair, which flew mainly to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Spanair was dealt a heavy blow in August 2008, when 154 people were killed when one of its passenger planes crashed at Madrid airport after take off for the Canary Islands. The cause of the accident is still being investigation.
Copyright 2012 - dpa, Berlin
