Workers offer to restart grounded Air Madrid

MADRID, Dec 18 (Reuters) Workers and executives at Spain's Air Madrid have asked to temporarily run the grounded low-cost airline to help more than 120,000 stranded passengers reach their Christmas destinations, the firm's manager said today.

The trans-Atlantic carrier halted operations without warning on Friday. Spain subsequently suspended its licence a day later, citing the privately-owned airline's repeated failure to manage its aircraft adequately.

Workers felt bad about tens of thousands of passengers, many of them Romanians or Latin American emigrants in Spain, who might not be able to spend Christmas at home, said Air Madrid Manager Pablo Morera.

''The quickest and most immediate solution would be to make an offer to the company's ownership (Chairman Jose Luis Carrillo) to cede shares to the workers, name a management group on behalf of the workers, and draw up a safety plan so we can start flying as soon as possible'', Morera told state radio.

A viability plan would be presented to the government today, which if approved, could see flights restart on Thursday or Friday, he said, adding Carrillo was not opposed to the idea, and that the group had no long-term management ambitions.

The government told Reuters it had not received the plan but was prepared to study any eventual proposal. Spain has found alternative flights for around 8,000 passengers and has promised to help flyers win compensation for cancelled flights.

Today, one association representing Ecuadorian migrants in Spain said it would take legal action against the airline on behalf of unhappy passengers.

However legal action is likely to be small comfort to passengers who cannot find or pay for replacement flights.

One Ecuadorian stranded at Madrid's Barajas airport said he was offered another flight home but no return flight to Spain.

''In Ecuador we'll have to find a way to return because our work is here, everything we have is here'', he told Reuters.

Reuters AB GC2152