Zoom Airlines, the low-cost transatlantic carrier that collapsed last summer, may be resurrected by a Canadian venture capitalist.

Published: 15 Jan 2009

Zoom Airlines, the low-cost transatlantic carrier that collapsed last summer, may be resurrected by a Canadian venture capitalist.

According to reports in the Canadian press, Kingston's Globe Span Capital Corporation announced this week the acquisition of Zoom Airlines Inc.

James Hultquist-Morrissey, owner and chairman of Globe Span Capital, reportedly said that he wants to take advantage of fuel prices that have tumbled about 65 percent since Zoom went out of business in August last year. Globe Span, a Toronto-based private equity firm, is working with bankruptcy trustee Doyle Salewski Inc. to take control of two or three Boeing planes that were leased in Canada by Zoom, he said.

Globe Span Capital plans to relocate Zoom Airlines finance, human resources and call-centre divisions to Kingston. The operation centre of the airline will remain in Toronto. Flight schedules have yet to be determined, but preliminary plans call for service in Toronto, Montreal, Paris, London and Rome.

"When we look at Zoom Airlines we see a company that was well run and profitable for more than five of its seven years," said James Hultquist-Morrissey, president and chief executive officer of Globe Span Capital.

"We have been able to negotiate a healthy position for a rebirth of Zoom in the Canadian aviation market. The plan will see us inject hundreds of new jobs into our industry, welcome news in the current economic environment."

Hultquist-Morrissey added that a plan is in place to get the new Zoom off the ground early this year.

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