OTTAWA -- Nav Canada said yesterday it has managed to recover less than a third of the money it was owed by Air Canada and its subsidiaries before the airline was granted bankruptcy protection from creditors earlier this year. Nav Canada, which operates the country's air traffic control system, said it had finalized the sale and assignment of its accounts receivable from Air Canada and its regional Jazz Air and Zip Air units for traffic control services provided before the insolvent carrier was granted creditor protection April 1.

Nav Canada didn't identify the purchaser of the Air Canada trade debts but said it got $13.2 million from the sale of accounts receivable valued at $45 million -- or about 29 per cent of the total.