Madrid, Dec 23 - Thousands of travellers, many of them Latin American immigrants trying to head home for Christmas, remained stranded here after Spanish airline Air Comet shutdown its operations.

The low-cost carrier, which flies between Spain and several Latin American countries, announced Monday it was shutting down after a British judge ordered its fleet of leased aircraft impounded amid a pile of unpaid bills.

Air Comet will soon ask permission from the Spanish government to dismiss all of its roughly 700 employees, but the airline, which owes creditors an estimated 100 million euros ($143 million), will wait until Jan 24 to seek bankruptcy protection from the courts.

Hundreds of passengers who had planned to fly with Air Comet to Peru, Ecuador, Cuba and Argentina protested Tuesday at Madrid Barajas International Airport, as they lay on the floor or sat propped against their suitcases on the conveyor belts and cried out against the airline and its owners.

Most of the passengers trapped in Barajas are Latin American immigrants who work in Spain and are returning to their home countries to spend Christmas with their families.

"There are kids, old people and workers who work all year so they can pay 1,200 euros ($1,700) per ticket to be able to see their loved ones," one of the protesting passengers told EFE.

Air Comet's shutdown comes three years after another Spanish budget carrier, Air Madrid, ceased operations on the eve of the peak period for holiday travel, leaving thousands of travellers stranded.

To help the approximately 7,000 people stranded in Madrid, the Spanish government will charter two airliners to Latin America this Wednesday, probably to Lima and Bogota, though these destinations are not yet finalised, an official said. (IANS/EFE)