=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2001/12/14/f= inancial1247EST0123.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, December 14, 2001 (AP) British World Airlines ceases operations; 320 jobs lost (12-14) 09:47 PST LONDON (AP) -- British World Airlines, a supplier of back-up planes to other carriers, has ceased operations after failing to solve financial problems aggravated by the recent slump in air travel. The company operated six 68-seat British Aerospace ATP planes, three Boeing 737s and one Boeing 757. Its customers included British Airways and low-cost carriers easyJet and Go. It said Friday the owners of the aircraft withdrew the leases, and it got all the planes back to base on Thursday. "The short-term prospects of continuing operations were becoming increasingly difficult, although (the company's) summer 2002 program was robust and profitable and would have called for a major fleet expansion," said Malcolm Ginsberg, a spokesman for British World Airlines. "Unfortunately, the group recently suffered bad debts close to one milli= on pounds ($1.45 million) after the collapse of two of its customers," he said. He identified those customers as Debonair, a British-based low-cost carrier that went into receivership in October 1999, and National Jet Italia, a British Airways franchise partner based in Rome, which terminated operations on Nov. 9. The company, based at Southend airport 40 miles northeast of London, had 320 employees, including 50 based in Aberdeen, Scotland to service flights to offshore oil rigs. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2001 AP