JEDDAH: Khaled Al-Mulhim, director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, described the seizure of the airline’s Boeing 777-200 jet in Paris as an arbitrary measure and said such unilateral actions would affect continuation of its operations to France.
“We’ll work with French authorities to stop such arbitrary measures,” Al-Mulhim said while commenting on the plane’s seizure at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on Friday.
Eagle Aviation, an aircraft-leasing firm based in Saint Nazaire, alleged that Saudia owed $2 million (2.6 million euros) to the company for providing the aircraft.
“We’ll ask Eagle Aviation, which has been recently declared bankrupt ... to pay amounts higher than what it demands from us,” the Saudia chief said, referring to their legal battle. He said the leasing company had refused to reach a settlement.
Al-Mulhim said the seizure came before a court hearing on the issue scheduled for today. “Eagle Aviation’s receiver arbitrarily and unilaterally approached a French court in order to win an order to seize the plane,” he added.
He said the receiver did not inform Saudia on the action and did not consider its rights on the French company. “The agreement between Saudia and Eagle Aviation commits both parties to approach Saudi courts” to settle their disputes, he added.
The receiver won the court order just before the holidays, preventing Saudia’s lawyer to take action to abrogate it. He said the receiver deliberately tried to seize the plane during holidays to influence the airline’s position at a subsequent court hearing.
