- El Grupo de Viajes FTI se disolverá en última instancia.
La compañía de viajes en apuros FTI, sepultada bajo una deuda de mil millones de euros, está siendo disuelta. El Tribunal de Distrito de Múnich ha iniciado procedimientos de insolvencia contra las dos principales entidades, FTI Touristik y BigXtra Touristik. El administrador de la insolvencia, Axel Bierbach, ha anunciado el despido de 700 empleados. La mayoría de los aproximadamente 350,000 acreedores, principalmente turistas en paquete, recibirán sus importes anticipados del Fondo Alemán de Seguridad para el Turismo (DRSF).
Sin embargo, la situación es diferente para aproximadamente 2.500 hoteles, agencias de viajes, aerolíneas, bancos y el fondo de estabilización del gobierno federal (WSF), según Bierbach. El WSF, que prestó alrededor de 600 millones de euros a la tercera mayor conglomerado de viajes de Europa, FTI, durante la pandemia, aún debe determinar el pago final a sus acreedores.
Los hoteles continúan operando
FTI declaró la quiebra en junio debido a una disminución de las reservas, la demanda de pagos anticipados de los socios y la extenuación financiera. En el momento de la quiebra, FTI Touristik tenía alrededor de 30 millones de euros, según Bierbach. La falta de fondos para los certificados de seguridad obligatorios en el DRSF llevó al cese de las ventas de viajes, agrega Bierbach.
Aproximadamente 60,000 vacacionistas partieron con seguridad y todas las nuevas reservas se detuvieron. De los 11,000 empleados en todo el mundo, alrededor de 7,500 aún trabajan en los hoteles en el sitio, whose operations continue uninterrupted. More than 320 German employees have already found new jobs, thanks to job fairs with FTI clients and competitors like Tui, DER, DB, and Jochen Schweizer at the FTI headquarters in Munich. Around 600 employees will receive their termination notices from September 1st. An additional 130 will remain employed briefly for liquidation assistance. The liquidation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Filiales vendidas
Los principales activos de FTI consisten en 54 hoteles con 12,000 habitaciones, incluidos los propiedades de alquiler a largo plazo. Excepto uno, todos estos hoteles continuarán operando y se espera que sean vendidos. Several potential buyers are interested, and negotiations are already progressing in several cases, Bierbach mentions.
Several companies with several hundred employees, such as the luxury travel provider Windrose, the Erf24 service center in Erfurt, and the online platform 5vorFlug, have already been sold from the 110 FTI subsidiaries.
The first creditors' meeting will be held in Munich on November 20th. "I think few will attend," says Bierbach: Majority of the 350,000 creditors do not have substantial claims against the insolvency administrator warranting this trip.
La liquidación de FTI abarca años
"The entire liquidation will take years," says Bierbach. "This is a marathon."
Approximately 175,000 travelers had already paid for their trip in full or part. Attempts to rebook them with other organizers failed just before the summer holidays. They will receive the money for the package tour from the DRSF - affecting 90% of vacationers. However, some travelers had additionally booked excursions. Money paid for these excursions is not replaced by the DRSF; the claim can, however, be asserted against the insolvency administrator.
Customers who had booked individual services with FTI can submit their claims to the insolvency table. However, the insolvency administrator encourages customers to initially use the refund routes via the DRSF and payment service provider to avoid clogging the procedure.
Travel agencies typically receive their commission after their customers have departed. Whether this is the case when departure does not occur and possibly no damage occurs due to the travel agency selling an alternative trip, needs to be examined, says Bierbach.
Despite the dissolution of FTI Tourism, several of its hotels continue operations and are expected to be sold to interested buyers. The WSF, which lent 600 million euros to FTI during the pandemic, is yet to determine the final payout to its creditors in this liquidation process, overseen by insolvency administrator Axel Bierbach.
As part of the liquidation, FTI's primary assets, including its 54 hotels, will be sold, with negotiations currently underway with several potential buyers for all but one of these properties.
