"The country is in danger, the whole economy could collapse. There are definitely other unexpected events, due to the regional issues. I want to minimise damages at Telnet. We do not know where the country is going, may God protect us". It is in those terms that Mohamed Frikha (photo), Tunisian politician and businessman, ended his speech on 30 June 2015, during the stormy general meeting of Telnet Holding (one of the companies he founded).

The unexpected twist happened, not directly because of regional challenges, but rather because of Syphax Airline, the private airline also founded by Mr. Frikha and of which Telnet is a shareholder and creditor. On 30 July 2015 the transporter "temporarily" suspended its flights to and from Tunisia, after an announcement by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to stop all operations linked to this carrier. An unpaid debt of 400,000 euros is meant to be at the root of this decision, Syphax said that it was not aware of it.

A situation which was certainly not planned by Mr. Frikha who had previously declared "For Syphax I am unfazed, the company will be saved and a general meeting will be held very soon, we just need time to come up with a recovery plan". The air carrier has still not resumed operations, however, neither a squeeze-out procedure (on the mid-term) from the Tunis marketplace, nor a liquidation seem to be on the agenda.

The Tunisian government meeting at a select ministerial committee on 10 August 2015 to discuss the company's situation, thus decided to send the file back to the Bureau of Assistance to Companies in Difficulty, highlighted the ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines. This process could lead to a declaration of bankruptcy due to financial hardship and open the way to receivership, protecting it temporarily from its creditors.