NETHERLANDS: DUTCH PLANEMAKER FOKKER DECLARES BANKRUPTCY, ENDING 77 YEARS OF AVIATION HISTORY

Record ID: 566288

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: DUTCH PLANEMAKER FOKKER DECLARES BANKRUPTCY, ENDING 77 YEARS OF AVIATION HISTORY
  • Date: 15th March 1996
  • Summary: SCHIPOL AND THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (MARCH 15, 1996/ FILE) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) SCHIPOL 1. SV NEWS CONFERENCE 0.04 2. SCU CHAIRMAN OF FOKKER BOARD, BEN VAN SCHAIK, ANNOUNCING BANKRUPTCY (DUTCH) 0.24 3. SCU VAN SCHAIK SAYING THE DRAMATIC EFFECT IS HEAVY, WITH LOSS OF SO MANY WORKERS. SAYS IT IS ALSO QUITE DAMAGING FOR HOLLAND'S IMAGE AND WORLD MARKETS (ENGLISH) 1.11 (FILE) 4. SV FOKKER PLANES FLYING 1.22 5. SV FOKKER PLANES BEING CONSTRUCTED 1.33 (MARCH 15) 6. SV VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF FACTORY WITH BLACK FLAG FLYING 1.41 7. SV VARIOUS OF FOKKER WORKERS LEAVING/ CARS LEAVING 1.56 8. SV UNIDENTIFIED FOKKER WORKER SAYING HE IS VERY SAD. BUT THERE IS NOTHING TO DO EXCEPT WAIT AND LOOK FOR SOMETHING ELSE (ENGLISH) 2.09 9. SCU UNIDENTIFIED FOKKER WORKER SAYING SHE IS SHAKING. IT IS LIKE LIVING IN A STREET WHERE YOU HAVE LIVED FOR MANY YEARS, KNOWING EVERYBODY, AND SUDDENLY THEY PUT YOU IN A HOUSE SOMEWHERE ELSE WHERE YOU KNOW NO ONE AND YOU FEEL SAD (ENGLISH) 2.25 THE HAGUE (MARCH 15) 10. SV NEWS CONFERENCE 2.29 11. SCU DUTCH ECONOMICS MINISTER, HANS WIJERS, SPEAKING (ENGLISH) 2.58 SCHIPOL 12. SV EXTERIOR FOKKER FACTORY 3.06 SEQUENCE 11 TRANSCRIPT: WIJERS: "IT IS AN ILLUSTRATION OF HOW EUROPE HAS COMPLETELY FAILED TO START COOPERATING AND CREATE AN INDUSTRY THAT IS BOTH COMPETITIVE AND WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT SCALE. THIS IS THE FIRST OF MANY SUCH INSTANCES WHERE INDUSTRIES WILL COLLAPSE." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 30th March 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SCHIPOL AND THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
  • City:
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Reuters ID: LVAAS5N7JL9AC1X9FPPJB3U8PJCD
  • Story Text: INTRO: One of the world's best-known plane makers. the Netherlands-based Fokker group, has lost its fight for survival -------------------------------------------------------------------- Aviation pioneer Fokker NV crashed into bankruptcy on Friday(March 15), ending three-quarters of a century of Dutch aircraft making and triggering the country's biggest corporate mass redundancy.

    The crippled regional jet maker, formerly a byword for Dutch industrial might, announced at a sombre news conference that it had lost a desperate struggle to find a buyer, and declared bankruptcy at three core units.

    "This means the end of 77 years of aircraft history in the Netherlands," Fokker chairman Ben van Schaik said.

    Fokker, crippled by debt and heavy losses, had been on life-support with state-guaranteed bridging credits while frantically searching for a buyer since German parent Daimler-Benz AG cut a cash lifeline on January 22.

    "We have been fighting until the very last moment, that means until this morning, to keep Fokker in the air. However we have not succeeded," Van Schaik said.

    Fokker declared bankruptcy at the bourse-listed NV Koninklijke Nederlandse Vliegtuigenfabriek Fokker and its Fokker Administration and Fokker Aircraft units.

    Over 5,600 workers will be dismissed, but 960 will be offered jobs at the remaining divisions that escaped collapse.

    A number of viable, non-core businesses -- aircraft maintenance, electronics systems and special products -- will be lumped into Fokker Aviation and will continue to fly the Fokker flag and employ some 2,500 staff.

    But Fokker said that it would have to find a new partner.

    "It is the intention that Fokker Aviation will seek a partnership with another company that could further strengthen the company's position," administrator Louis Deterink said.

    Fokker Aviation will also include two slimmed-down units of bankrupt Fokker Aircraft, which will seek defence orders.

    Workers, who had clung to faint hopes of a rescue, were shattered by the announcement.

    Fokker had pinned its hopes on a last-minute takeover bid from South Korea's Samsung Aerospace, but the Asian company failed to come up with an offer before Fokker's credit lines expired.

    Dutch Economics Minister Hans Wijers told a news conference in The Hague that talks with Samsung had gone on all night.

    "The only thing we got last night was a letter which contained less commitment than earlier signals. That led the administrators to conclude at 6 a.m. that...we had to stop."
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