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Norwegian exits restructuring, Swedish unit seeks bankruptcy
26.05.2021 – 22:21 UTC
On schedule, Norwegian (DY, Oslo Gardermoen) emerged on May 26 from its six-month restructuring process under bankruptcy protection, with less than half of its fleet remaining and its debt almost wiped off its balance sheet, it announced in a stock market filing.
The new-look low-cost carrier confirmed that it had fulfilled all conditions for leaving bankruptcy protection in Ireland and Norway. It has raised NOK6 billion kroner (USD720 million) in fresh capital as planned, beyond the minimum requirement set in the Dublin and Oslo bankruptcy courts.
Norwegian is now officially relaunched, with fewer flights and a focus on Norway and the Nordic region, but it faces stronger competition – against Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) and start-up Flyr (Oslo Gardermoen) as well as SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) – and lingering uncertainty about demand amid an ongoing pandemic.
“The effective date […] will occur today,” Norwegian said in its May 26 disclosure. “The effective time […] is subject to the registration of the share capital increases and the…
Editorial Comment: Removed the fleet summary information from the article and updated the planned fleet count to clarify Norwegian only plans to fly B737-800s going forward. – 27.05.2021 – 07:15 UTC
Wizz Air challenges Romanian state aid to Tarom, Blue Air
25.05.2021 – 13:35 UTC
Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) has filed a complaint at the General Court of the European Union against the European Commission approvals for Romanian state aid granted to state-owned flag carrier Tarom (RO, Bucharest Otopeni) and privately-held Blue Air (Romania) (0B, Bucharest Otopeni).
Tarom received EUR19.3 million euros (USD23 million) in October 2020 to compensate for losses caused by Covid-19 travel restrictions, after a nod from Brussels, in addition to a EUR36.7 million (USD44.8 million) rescue loan approved in February 2020, shortly before the mass outbreak. Blue Air also received Covid-related aid of EUR62 million (USD75.7 million).
Hungary-based budget carrier Wizz submitted its objection against Tarom’s EC-approved state aid in January 2021, and against Blue Air’s last month, the Romanian news site Economica.net reported on May 20. Economica was issuing its report, it said, the day after Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) notched up its first legal victories against state aid provided to European flag carriers, to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and TAP Air Portugal.
Oana Petrescu, chief executive…
EU set to ban Belarus carriers after forced diversion
24.05.2021 – 21:56 UTC
Following a meeting on May 24, 2021, the European Council has resolved to ban all Belarus airlines from landing in the European Union and from transiting its airspace.
The Council’s conclusions have also appealed to all EU airlines to avoid overflying Belarus.
The European Council is a body comprising the heads of states and governments of all 27 EU member states. However, it does not have direct legislative power, and all of its conclusions need to be passed into law by other bodies, including the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. As such, the ban is not immediately effective.
Flag carrier Belavia (B2, Minsk National) is the only Belarus airline operating scheduled flights to the European Union. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, the airline currently connects Minsk with 19 destinations in the bloc. Cargo specialists Rada Airlines, Rubystar Airways, BySky, and Genex all hold EASA Third Country Operator certificates, permitting them to operate charter flights.
The conclusions were adopted in the wake of the state-backed…
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