Section 15 of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), which represented around 5,000 Interjet workers before its cessation of operations, will begin today with the embargo and auction of airline assets to pay salaries and benefits owed since the end of the of 2020.
In a statement sent to its affiliates, Section 15 reported that yesterday the term of 15 working days that the Federal Board of Conciliation and Arbitration (JFCA) granted to the company to resume its work, and to pay more than 1,891 million pesos for wages and benefits owed.
“For this reason, we started (…) the process of executing the award to seize and auction off the assets owned by the company as far as it goes,” said Francisco Joaquín del Olmo Velázquez, director of Section 15, quoted in the statement.
The union explained that assets that do not belong to the company cannot be auctioned off for the payment of wages. In this situation are “several planes” of Interjet, whose ownership has already been claimed by several companies, which will be determined by the JFCA. It will be the Board that collects and delivers to the workers the resources obtained in the process.
Yesterday also expired the deadline for the administration of Interjet – headed by Alejandro del Valle, president of the company’s board of directors – to promote a new amparo against the union award.
“In the event that the company no longer promotes any means of defense, we will focus all our efforts on the seizure and subsequent auction of the assets as quickly as possible,” said Del Olmo Velázquez.
Interjet stopped flying in December 2020, after a financial crisis dating back to 2019, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on flight demand. Lacking resources, the airline went from operating 80 aircraft to just four aircraft at the end of 2020, leading to a cessation of operations and a subsequent strike in January 2021.
Since then, the company, now owned by Alejandro del Valle – who acquired more than 90% of Interjet’s shares in mid-2020 – has ensured that the airline will return. Even Federico Bertrand, new director of Interjet –and who was previously in charge of the Toluca Airport– affirmed that the company would return at the beginning of this year with flights from Toluca, the Mexico City International Airport and Felipe Ángeles (AIFA). .
Recently Carlos del Valle, son of Alejandro del Valle and deputy director of the airline, said that he would file charges against “some Colombian citizens” belonging to the previous administration of Interjet for embezzlement, probably referring to William Shaw, CEO of the airline between January 2019 and June 2020, who now leads Ultra Air, a low-cost airline that began operations in Colombia this year.
