Solenta Aviation (SET, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has withdrawn a Gauteng High Court application to have South African Express (EXY, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) liquidated over ZAR87.3 million rand (USD6.5 million) in unpaid leasing debts.

As previously reported, the South African ACMI specialist's claims related to fees due on three E145s South African Express had wet-leased from Solenta between October 2016 and June of this year.

However, according to a South African Express statement issued last week, the two sides have now agreed to resolve their dispute by means of arbitration.

“Following an application for liquidation brought against SA Express in the Gauteng High Court in June 2017 by Solenta Aviation, the airline can confirm that it was served with a notice of withdrawal on 6 November 2017,” Acting CEO Victor Xaba said.

“The airline has always maintained that this was a matter of contractual dispute and did not warrant an application for liquidation. It is encouraging that both parties could reach consensus on the process to be applied in handling this. SA Express has taken lessons out of this experience as to how to build stronger relationships with our stakeholders, especially our suppliers.”