An examiner appointed to the Pilot Training College in Waterford is currently negotiating with a potential investor interested in taking over the company, the High Court was told today.
Barrister Bernard Dunleavy told Mr Justice Barry White that the examiner Michael McAteer required more time to submit his report on a possible scheme of arrangement in his bid to save the company.
Judge White extended the timeframe until September 26th next.
Three hundred and fifty students were affected by the collapse of the training courses run by the Pilot Training College in the United States. None of them objected to the extension of time.
Mr Dunleavy told the court that since the company had been afforded the protection of the court against its creditors the firm's cash flow had not performed in line with projections indicated earlier.
He said there was a liability of €8.5 million over and above available assets but negotiations were continuing Friday with an interested investor.
The High Court was told in July that the company had a reasonable prospect of survival if it changed its business model and found an investor.
Mr Dunleavy said there had been an interest expressed from three potential investors two of whom had already pulled out. If negotiations fell through with the third investor the examiner would return to the court immediately to seek termination of the examinership.
The Pilot Training College of Ireland, Waterford, was set up in 2002 and much of its training was outsourced to the Florida Institute of Technology and a related company, FIT Aviation.
Earlier, the court heard that the college had become concerned that the training being provided in Florida was seriously deficient. Instructors were inexperienced and the training had been taking much longer than anticipated.
The company became unable to provide any training to students because the Irish Aviation Authority had suspended its approval of its training courses and this had led to its current financial difficulties, the court was told in July.