Payments to FreshAer refunded

The bank that was holding the €250,000 paid by 1,500 Irish customers to FreshAer said yesterday that it had refunded the money to their credit card accounts.

German-based B&S Card Services GmbH, which held the funds in a special account, issued a statement saying: "We can confirm that we have, this afternoon, reversed all credit card payments that we have received from FreshAer up to this date. The card holders' accounts will show the refunds inside the next few days."

The bank added that the refunding process was complete, and said that it would not be necessary for cardholders to seek repayment through the banks that issued their cards.

The bank's industry manager, Mr Lars Torgau, signed the statement.

The clearing system will determine the exact number of days taken for the repayments to show up in individual accounts. Irish customers will not incur any costs due to the repayment process.

UK-based FreshAer began selling tickets for budget flights from Dublin to the UK and Spain two-and-a-half weeks ago. The flights were sold via a website and phone line, and up to 1,500 Irish people are reported to have paid out €250,000 for tickets. Earlier this week, the company said it would repay this money.

B&S Card Services held the money in a special bonded account, which is a standard practice in these situations. It refunded the money after receiving instructions from FreshAer.

B&S Card Services is based in Frankfurt and is a leading supplier of credit and debit card services in Germany. Last year it had a turnover of €136.8 million and it employs more than 200 people.

It is owned by nine German banks, who have stakes varying between 5 per cent and 22 per cent in B&S.

It was founded in 1987 and grew out of the card processing centre of Bank of America in Germany. It did not want to add any comment to its statement yesterday.

FreshAer has not said whether it intends to shelve its original plans to begin flights on October 1st.

The company had a series of meetings at the weekend and earlier this week to discuss its future. Yesterday, one source said it was seeking to regroup and find new primary investors.

The company was formed and registered in the UK, but had intended establishing itself as an Irish airline. Last week, it agreed a lease on 20,000 sq ft over three storeys of office space, and announced that intended to employ 200 people there over the next six months. Earlier this week it said that this was "under review".

FreshAer is not licensed to operate as either an airline or tour operator in the Republic. It began the process of applying for these licences last week. It has not said if it intends to continue with this process.