Romania's Animawings Seeks Insolvency Protection and Dumps Its Whole A220 Fleet

Animawings filed for insolvency at a Bucharest court on September 30, seeking court-supervised protection from creditors while it restructures. The Romanian private airline is cutting its fleet from eight aircraft to two, disposing of six leased Airbus A220-300s it had taken on since 2024 and keeping two older A320s. Recurring technical problems had already grounded parts of the A220 fleet in recent months, and the airline has fallen behind on payments to several creditors. Airports in both Romania and Greece have started legal proceedings to recover what they are owed. The owners had held talks with investors, including the investment arm of Banca Transilvania, Romania's largest bank, about selling half of the business, but that deal was reportedly never completed. The carrier had been pursuing an ambitious growth plan, moving from a charter-focused model to a hybrid scheduled and charter operation that competed with flag carrier Tarom. With a fleet this small, significant flight cancellations and route cuts are expected, although Animawings said it intends to stay in operation.