Originally Posted by VASBYT

US-based Frontier Airlines has secured a temporary restraining order until tomorrow preventing trustees for Dublin-based jet lessor AMCK Aviation – now part of the Carlyle investment giant – from grounding or impounding more than a tenth of the carrier’s fleet in a dispute that erupted last year.

Colorado-based Frontier Airlines wants a New York court to grant a preliminary injunction at a hearing tomorrow against Wells Fargo Trust Company and UMB Bank as owner-trustees of 14 Airbus A320 leased to the carrier.

It has told the court that if the jets are grounded, the impact would be “devastating” for the carrier and its customers and cost the airline “substantial goodwill”.

The court ordered Frontier to pay a $2m (€1.8m) bond to cover the defendants’ costs in the event the preliminary junction is not ultimately granted this week.

The airline, which operates 127 aircraft and flies to more than 100 destinations, was served last month with a notice of default in relation to the disputed jets.

Frontier launched a lawsuit against AMCK in the United States last year seeking damages related to the acquisition by investment giant Carlyle of Ireland-based AMCK Aviation last year.
Frontier, which is controlled by US private equity firm Indigo Partners, has claimed that AMCK’s assets were “raided” as part of a $4bn takeover of the lessor by Carlyle in 2022.

The airline has insisted that under lease agreements it had with AMCK for 15 jets initially, its consent was required for any change of ownership involving those aircraft. Frontier said it only learned of the planned takeover through the public domain.

Carlyle said in late 2021 that Maverick Aviation Partnership, an investment vehicle managed by Carlyle Aviation Partners, had sealed an agreement to acquire AMCK’s aircraft portfolio.
Frontier claims that AMCK’s assets were “raided” as part of the takeover process, so the Irish unit would render itself “judgment-proof” if it loses a $53m lawsuit taken against it in 2020 by the airline.

Lawyers for Carlyle have previously insisted that Frontier’s complaint “presents a tale full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing”. The lessor has denied Frontier’s claims. But now the dispute has escalated.

Frontier has claimed that it has continued to perform its obligations under relevant leases, but that Dublin-based Carlyle Aviation Management and its related defendants “demanded that Frontier sign its rights away to approve Carlyle’s assignments of the aircraft”.

“When Frontier proposed reasonable conditions on those assignments to protect its right, defendants declared a lease default and threatened to ground or repossess the aircraft – a devastating action not just for Frontier but for the travelling public,” the airline has insisted as it seeks an injunction. Frontier has branded Carlyle’s move as a “strong-arm tactic”.
Carlyle, AMCK and other defendants in the case have opposed the injunction application by Frontier.

They have argued that Frontier’s actions have resulted in “multiple breaches” of relevant leases by denying “reasonable requests” to make what were described as “ordinary-course agreements” connected to matters including refinancing of the disputed aircraft.