Court orders Avianca Brasil to surrender 20 pct of fleet

Brazil’s fourth largest airline Avianca Brasil said Friday it had been served with an injunction which newspaper Valor said could force the carrier to surrender 11 planes, or close to 20% of its fleet, to lessors. A representative for Avianca Brasil said the carrier did not think an appeal would be necessary as it was trying to reach an out-of-court agreement with the airplanes’ owners. The company decided in August to reduce its fleet by eight planes and has started renegotiating its plane leases to carry out the plan, it said in a separate statement. According to Valor, leasing companies BOC Aviation and Constitution Aircraft filed for the injunction. The planes include Airbus A320s, the newspaper reported. Avianca Brasil is unlisted and independent from the larger and better-known Avianca Holdings SA, a publicly traded airline company based in Colombia.<br/>