Launching as a charter airline in 2018 and beginning its first commercial flights in 2023, Romanian budget airline Dan Air requested the right to enter insolvency proceedings earlier this fall.
The airline running flights from Romania to European capitals such as London, Dublin, Turin, Paris, and Dortmund saw its debt balloon from 90 million Romanian lei ($19 million USD) in 2024 to 126.3 million lei (roughly $26.5 million USD) in 2025.
After Romania’s Ilfov Tribunal weighed proposals for how the budget carrier will reorganize its finances, the airline officially entered insolvency on Nov. 6.
Also read: Another national airline loses license, cancels all flights
“Reorganisation does not mean bankruptcy”: Dan Air
The terms “insolvency” and “bankruptcy” are often used interchangeably in many parts of the world, but under Romanian law, an airline is not bankrupt if it is not ordered into liquidation.
Accordingly, the carrier stressed that it is not in bankruptcy because it has worked out a court-approved plan to restructure its debts.
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“Reorganisation does not mean bankruptcy,” the airline said in a statement first reported by local outlet Adevarul.ro. “The procedure provides Dan Air with the legal protection necessary to continue its activity and pay its debts according to a reorganisation plan approved by the creditors and confirmed by the insolvency judge.”
Dan Air has a reported fleet of three aircraft, an Airbus A319-100 and two Airbus A320-200s. Any flights that Dan Air may have had scheduled in the coming weeks have been canceled since the start of November.
These other airlines filed for bankruptcy or shut down in 2026:
- Flamingo Air and Aerodiana: The regional airlines with large client bases among tourists to the Bahamas and Peru, respectively, currently have suspended AOCs after fatal accidents in their home countries in July 2026.
- Spirit Airlines: The largest airline shutdown of the year occurred when Spirit Airlines canceled all remaining flights on May 2. Although the airline had filed for Chapter 11 protection twice before, the skyrocketing price of jet fuel dealt the final blow.
- Magnicharters: The Mexican low-cost airline ended up canceling all flights and filing for bankruptcy in a shutdown that left thousands stranded.
- Starflite Aviation: The Houston-based carrier had its AOC license revoked in March 2026, amid FAA claims that owners falsified pilot training records to bypass safety audits.
- AlpAvia: The Slovenian charter airline also shut down in March 2026 after years of financial problems.
Dan Air representatives have claimed that any refunds passengers with disrupted travel are seeking must go through the Netopia payment system that it previously used for its payment processing.
Although Netopia redirects refund requests to the airline, Dan Air said it cannot provide refunds because it’s unable to access funds amid the insolvency proceedings, Romania Insider reported.
Dan Air
Dan Air cancels 11,000 flights as refund questions loom
Dan Air has canceled approximately 11,000 flights in the coming months, while others are still running, according to Romania Journal.
The airline advised anyone who has not received an email informing them of a cancellation to show up at the airport as they would have otherwise.
Netopia, meanwhile, said that customer payments are being held in protection accounts to be issued as refunds through the insolvency process, rather than being used for commercial purposes.
This also comes as the Romanian air traffic control authority, ROMATSA, threatens to suspend services over unpaid invoices for work done earlier in the year, Aviation Direct noted.
Whether the air traffic authority has the right to do this will also be determined in court as part of the insolvency process.
Related: Another low-cost airline files for bankruptcy protection
