Businesses worldwide are feeling the pressure of historic inflation and rising interest rates. UK insolvencies have reached their highest level since 2009, while numbers are also increasing in Australia, Canada and China.

This article examines the latest restructuring and insolvency trends – including zombie companies, landmark court decisions, and new legislation in Canada and the EU.

‘Zombie companies’ could lead to a wave of insolvencies

As of Q1 2021, vaccines have started to reduce hospitalisations in numerous countries, but global variations in vaccine manufacturing, distribution, procurement and adoption ensure that 2021 will be a year of patchwork ‘new normals’ worldwide. New, more infectious and potentially more robust variants may render COVID-19 endemic, further fragmenting governments’ response. Despite the prominence of the pandemic, other issues (such as Brexit and data protection) have also been notable within searches.

The past couple of years have seen a number of major airlines collapse, including Monarch and Air Berlin. Unfortunately, this year has already seen the number of casualties pile up with the likes of WOW Air, FlyBMI, Primera Air and Jet Airways all ceasing operations. With Thomas Cook – the UK’s oldest travel operator – the latest in jeopardy, we look at Lexology’s recent articles in an attempt to analyse this trend and explore the legislation being introduced to support the aviation industry.

Need some AIR – can airlines operate when insolvent?

Amid an increasingly volatile aviation industry pervaded by headline-grabbing failures (think Monarch Airlines and Air Berlin), lessors’ and financiers’ need for effective mechanisms to recover their assets has also grown. While repossessing aircraft is never a desired first option – after all, this does stem the flow of revenues derived from the aircraft’s operation – regrettably it must be resorted to when negotiations with the airline fail.