A German insolvency court, the Konstanz District Court, has formally cancelled insolvency proceedings over the assets of aircraft seating manufacturer, ZIM Flugsitz GmbH. The company presented an insolvency plan to the court, including a corporate restructuring scheme, which was unanimously adopted by the creditors‘ meeting in the Bodenseeforum in Konstanz on 15 December, 2020 and confirmed by the Konstanz insolvency court. The court has repealed the insolvency proceedings under self-administration, with a resolution date of 7 January, 2021. This termination of proceedings means that the company’s restrictions under insolvency law are over.
ZIM Flugsitz’s operations were affected by the reduction in demand for the aviation industry resulting from government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, and as a result the company had to temporarily register for short-time work (Kurzarbeitergeld). Short-time work is a scheme whereby Germany’s Federal Employment Agency (BA) compensates affected companies for 60% of employees’ original pay for each hour not worked, helping companies retain talent while employees can work 30% less hours while experiencing only a 10% loss in income.
According to ZIM Flugsitz, the restructuring programme, combined with new seating contracts secured with major airlines, have shown that it is a resilient company that can be successfully released from the self-administration process due to the robust restructuring plan. The company is now continuing on the new course.
“We would like to thank everyone involved, in particular the creditors‘ committee, the trustee Martin Mucha, the PLUTA law firm, the employees and all creditors for the good and constructive cooperation over the past few months”, stated ZIM managing director Heiko Fricke, who leads the company together with Raffael Rogg.
