Most companies declare bankruptcy many months ahead of the inevitable date of ceasing operations. However, SpanAir has created a new precedent in Spanish business by simply shutting down operations, without even notifying their own employees.

It all started when takeover talks with Quatar Airlines finally came to an abrupt end, and the company began to look for another suitor. There was no other suitor. As in the famous collapse of Lehman Brothers, desparate CEOs were looking for impossible or ingenious ways to finance a floundering company with a massive liquidity problem.

No doubt you can cite mismanagement of funds and probably even convict a few members of the board, but the real problem was with government regulators who – up till now – had allowed the Catalonian Regional Government (called the Generalitat) to finance operations of the airline. This basically translates into State ownership of an airline, which is strictly forbidden by EU laws regarding fair competition.

So who should pay the fine? A company like SpanAir with over 2,000 employees can not simply look the other way. In a valiant effort to please, the president of the company has promised to pay employee salaries for the month of January. But the future looks grim indeed.

No doubt the company will have to sell off or liquidate their assets. This will take both time and money, but the Spanish Government has placed itself first in line to collect a hefty 9-million euro penalty.

If the company seems to have failed because the Generalitat retired all financial support for the company, shouldn’t the Generalitat be responsible for taking care of the fine? Shouldn’t the politicians and party members that sealed the illegal deal with SpanAir to finance operations be brought to justice?

Watch the following video and decide for yourself.