The airline filed its petition in the Southern District of New York. Chapter 15 bankruptcy allows foreign companies with U.S. assets to protect themselves against claims while they work on a turnaround plan.
Since Jan. 1, Virgin's reservations are down 89% year-over-year and current demand for the second half of 2020 is at approximately 25% of 2019 levels, according to court papers.
"The group and its business have been adversely affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused an unprecedented near-shutdown of the global passenger aviation industry," according to the court papers. "Global aviation was one of the first industries to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and is likely to be one of the last to fully recover."