Talks on the future of FreshAer, the company planning to launch a budget airline here in October, continued last night amid unconfirmed reports that two potential buyers had expressed interest in the business.
There was no comment from the company and talks are expected to resume today.
The UK-based company admitted yesterday that it was under financial pressure following the departure of one of its investors, Mr John Lepp. The company's sole director, Mr Tony Robinson, said that it had received some expressions of interest from high net-worth investors.
One source earlier said two potential buyers had come forward, but this remained unconfirmed last night.
Over the last two weeks FreshAer took €250,000 in flight bookings from between 1,400 and 1,500 Irish consumers. These are being held in a special account in an unnamed German bank.
The company has said that the money will be repaid, but has also told customers to retain their booking numbers and flight details. Its plans to take 20,000 square feet over three floors in an office in Swords were also under review yesterday.
Last week, the company announced that it intended to hire 200 people to work there over the next six months.
Mr Lepp, who the company described as its chief executive, provided it with some of its finance but withdrew this after he left the business at the weekend.
Last week, The Irish Times revealed that Mr Lepp - whose full name is John Ditchfield-Lepp - had been disqualified from acting as a director in the UK, and had been convicted on two counts of trading with intent to defraud creditors in 1999. The company has since pointed out that he "acted honourably at all times".
A number of senior management personnel have left the company, and it laid off its 15 employees, who were largely handling the bookings and administration, on Monday.
FreshAer began selling flight tickets online and over a phone line two weeks ago. It had planned to launch budget services between Dublin, Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Alicante and the Algarve. However, it does not have the necessary airline and tour operator licences needed to operate in the State.
Its original plan was to lease Boeing aircraft, and complete an agreement with Iceland Air's sister company, Luftleidir, to crew and operate the flights. That deal was never completed and Luftleider has since said that all negotiations ended at the weekend and were unlikely to restart.
The company began the process of applying for its licences early last week after the Commission for Aviation Regulation warned that it was acting illegally, as it did not have the necessary licences.
