JetGo 'unlikely' to repay Wagga City Council and residents after liquidation

But it is not just the council that has been left out of pocket, with would-be passengers also losing out on money they paid, for flights they never caught.

Wagga resident Stephen Smith is one of the "unprotected creditors" who lost out when the company cancelled all flights.

"The short story is that I probably won't get my money back," he said.

"It was somewhere between $1000 and $2000.

"In the short time that JetGo was around, I would have used the service three or four times."

Mr Smith used the airline to visit family in Queensland and said he was shocked at the lack of intervention from the local and state governments.

"I couldn't understand why they didn't get together to help it stay afloat," he said.

"It certainly has impacted the city as it makes it so much harder to get to Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

"Now you have to stopover in Sydney for four or so hours."

Mr Smith said he hopes all levels of government looked into providing better airline access to connect regional cities with the rest of the country.

In June 2018, JetGo cancelled all flights and confirmed it had filed for voluntary administration following reports the company was experiencing a "critical shortage of cash" and operating just two planes across regional Australia.

Last July, the embattled airline was put into liquidation following a Supreme Court ruling.

It was revealed the company had an outstanding debt of $105,000 owed to Wagga City Council.

Mayor Greg Conkey said Wagga and Brisbane was one of JetGo's strongest routes and averaged between 1300 and 1500 passengers per month.

"It was well patronised," he said.

"It is certainly not as convenient to get to the Gold Coast and Brisbane as people now have to go via Sydney and it makes the journey long which is really disappointing.

"In terms of someone else taking up the route, we have not heard of anyone so far."

Jirsch Sutherland is the company responsible for liquidation and the senior manager, Otim Oluk, said the liquidators are currently recovering voidable transactions.

He said only the customers who paid by credit card have been able to get a refund from the relevant credit card company if applicable.

"On present indications, it is unlikely that unsecured creditors [such as Wagga City Council] will receive a dividend," Mr Oluk said.

"Asset realisations are only estimated to be sufficient to enable a partial return to priority employee creditors.

"The quantum of the estimated return to priority employee creditors who are currently owed approximately $1.7 million is presently unknown."

Mr Oluk said the company had an airline operating certificate which allowed the airline to land at almost all airports in the world.

"The AOC is not an asset of the company and therefore cannot be sold by the receivers and manager," he said.

"However, it is something that can be acquired from the liquidators through a restructure of the company.

"At the time of the liquidators' appointment there was considerable interest in the AOC being acquired and, if acquired, a possibility of unsecured creditors receiving some form of financial return."

Mr Oluk said no firm proposal to acquire the AOC had been received to date, and since it expires on May 31, 2019, it is now likely the AOC will lapse and not be acquired.

A spokesperson for Wagga City Council said tyhe administrators appointed for JetGo are still working on the file.

When Council Officers are advised of the final outcome, a report will be prepared for Council.

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