Zolfo Cooper appointed to Astraeus Airlines

ZOLFO COOPER administrators have been appointed to the airline made famous by having Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson as a pilot.

Nick Cropper, Alastair Beveridge and Anne O'Keefe, partners at Zolfo Cooper, were appointed joint-administrators of Astraeus Airlines. The airline has ceased trading.

Dickinson plans to rescue the business as he saw no reason why the original business model could not work.

"Firstly, I'm already working on a plan to try to save Astraeus, or at least create a new business with new jobs for my friends and former colleagues at Astraeus. This is a serious plan involving people who are very good at their jobs," said Dickinson.

"Frankly, now Astraeus has been relieved of the business model imposed upon it by Icelandic owners, who, to be honest, perhaps did not fully appreciate the way the key commercial aviation markets operated, I see the potential for a viable operation should acquisition of the company prove achievable."

Dickinson, who piloted a flight from Jeddah to Manchester yesterday, said he was also involved in a project that could create as many as 1,500 jobs in the aviation sector.

Astraeus Airlines operated the Iron Maiden "Final Frontier World Tour 2011", which ended in August.

The Crawley-based business employs about 190 people and had suffered severe cash flow difficulties.

Nick Cropper said: "The company has been left facing a number of insurmountable issues and unfortunately, we have been left with no alternative other than to cease trading immediately.

"Regrettably, this also means that the majority of staff have been made redundant."