Judge Rejects Magnicharters’ Bankruptcy Protection Filing, Leaving Airline on Verge of Liquidation
The Mexican airline Magnicharters is facing a highly complex legal and financial landscape after a federal court dismissed its petition for judicial protection. This decision leaves the carrier on the brink of definitive liquidation following the permanent cessation of its commercial flight operations.
Judicial Rejection of Magnicharters’ Financial Protection
A federal judge dismissed the voluntary bankruptcy protection (concurso mercantil) filing submitted by Grupo Aéreo de Monterrey, the parent company of Magnicharters. The airline had formally requested protection under this legal framework on May 11.
The ruling was issued on May 13 by Nataly Pérez Hernández, who at the time served as the First District Judge for Bankruptcy Matters based in Mexico City, with nationwide jurisdiction. However, the resolution was not made public until this Monday, May 25. According to the issued document, the reason for the dismissal was due to errors in the formal registry: “Upon conducting a search in the correspondence logs, no motion tending to this matter was found.”
This legal determination worsens the situation for the company, whose flights had already been temporarily suspended on April 15 by the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), through the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC), due to discrepancies discovered during an audit process. Prior to this official intervention, the airline had already canceled all of its schedules for two weeks without providing detailed explanations. This measure later became permanent, impacting passengers at airports in Cancún, Mexico City, and Monterrey.
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Future Scenarios for the Airline
Following the judicial denial, several aviation industry analysts are considering multiple alternatives for the immediate future of Magnicharters:
- New Bankruptcy Protection Filing: The company retains the right to initiate a new voluntary process, given that the Bankruptcy Law (Ley de Concursos Mercantiles) does not stipulate a specific timeframe for refiling.
- Involuntary Bankruptcy: There is a possibility that a third party (such as a creditor) may initiate the process externally, replicating the precedent set by Interjet. In that case, a creditor filed the petition in April 2021, the company was declared in bankruptcy protection in August 2022, and a federal court ultimately declared its liquidation in April 2023.
- Direct Negotiation: The company could attempt to reach bilateral agreements with its creditors out of court.
- Direct Declaration of Bankruptcy/Liquidation: For industry experts, a direct declaration of liquidation constitutes a looming possibility in the short term.
Multi-Million Liabilities and Operational Crisis
The cessation of Magnicharters’ operations is the result of a severe accumulation of financial and operational pressures:
- Debts to the Tourism Sector: The Mexican Federation of Tourism Associations reports that the airline is carrying 150 million pesos in liabilities with travel agencies due to breaches of contract regarding previously commercialized vacation packages.
- Labor Disputes: The workforce has publicly denounced delays in salary payments for periods spanning up to six months.
- Consumer Claims: The company has accumulated a total of 156 complaints before the Federal Consumer Attorney’s Office (Profeco), where affected users report individual losses reaching up to 40,000 pesos per passenger.
- Fuel Costs: Another determining factor that influenced the grounding was the sustained rise in jet fuel prices, directly derived from the international spike in oil prices.
With the rejection of its voluntary corporate restructuring, Magnicharters is left legally unprotected against its liabilities within a completely paralyzed operational environment. The next steps taken by Grupo Aéreo de Monterrey, the actions chosen by its creditors, or the rulings of the court’s new presiding judge will determine whether the carrier is heading irreversibly toward a total liquidation of its assets.
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