Pascan Aviation (P6, Montréal Metropolitan) has filed for creditor protection under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Similar to a US Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the move will allow the distressed carrier to continue operating while restructuring its business.

A Superior Court of Quebec docket indicates Pascan's creditors - Business Development Bank of Canada and Investissement Quebec - are providing a total of USD1 million to support the Pascan Companies' recovery plan.

"The CCAA proceedings will, among other things, provide the Pascan Companies with the time and stability to restructure its business, negotiate a restructuring plan with stakeholders, compromise creditor claims, restructure material operating contracts, secure new financing, and otherwise consider restructuring and refinancing options," Pascan said.

Founded in 1999, Pascan Aviation offers daily flights to twelve airports in Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador. However, in May this year, the struggling carrier's founder and president, Serge Charron, announced a vast proportion of its domestic Quebecois operations were not economically viable and would therefore be cut.

He blamed the move on a weakening minerals and mining market that had resulted in the local government abandoning an economic development strategy aimed at developing mineral extraction in Quebec's north. As a result 240 out of 340 employees were laid off while fourteen of its twenty-two aircraft were put up for sale.