Geneva - Creditors of the bankrupt airline Swissair would probably start to receive payments for the first time in November, six years after the airline's spectacular collapse, the company's liquidator said at the weekend.
Karl Wuethrich, the lawyer appointed to oversee the liquidation of the company's assets, said in a circular to creditors that he was planning to begin interim payments out of a total Sf9.82 billion (R61 billion) in recognised claims.
A large proportion of the claims, Sf5.25 billion, were still subject to litigation in a Zurich district court, said the circular.
They include Sf3.88 billion relating to the company's operations in Belgium, where Swissair had taken over the former flag carrier Sabena, and challenges over aircraft leasing contracts.
First- and second-class claims, notably by the staff employed by the airline and its parent group when it went under, account for about Sf19 million.
They are likely to receive the total amount that they are claiming.
Creditors in Swissair's parent company, SAirGroup, had lodged total claims of $48.9 billion (R360 billion), according to Wuethrich's debt restructuring data.
SAirGroup plunged into financial trouble in 2001, leading to one of Switzerland's most spectacular bankruptcies and the sudden grounding of Swissair, leaving hundreds of passengers in the country stranded.