European carriers suspend ops amid increased border controls

Estonia told Brussels that Nordica faced bankruptcy by YE20

Nordica (EE, Tallinn Lennart Meri) may face bankruptcy by December, according to a summary of the request for state aid which the Estonian government sent to the European Commission earlier this year, as seen by Estonian broadcaster ERR.

The report assessed the market value of the company as of July 16, 2020, in which current cash flows cannot cover costs, as being minus EUR19,553,000 euros (USD22.7 million), a contrast from the company being nearly EUR18.9 million (USD22 million) in the black on December 31, 2019.

According to Nordica's own estimates, the company will lose EUR57 million (USD66.3 million) in revenue because of the coronavirus crisis between March and December this year, resulting in a EUR23 million (USD26.7 million) operating loss for the full year.

Nordica applied for a loan from the Estonian branch of Sweden's SEB Bank, which has a sizeable presence in the Baltics, in April but was refused, the report shows. SEB cited the stagnation in the aviation market, future uncertainty, and the fact that as a virtual carrier Nordica had no...

Estonia's Xfly to open two Finnish bases

Latvia's airBaltic defers A220 deliveries

airBaltic (BT, Riga) has reached an agreement with Airbus to defer the delivery of 28 outstanding A220-300s, which are now due to complete by the end of 2024.

The Latvian carrier originally planned to take all 50 firm-ordered A220-300s, including the 22 it already operates, by the end of 2023. It underlined that while it has slowed down its A220 deliveries, it has also accelerated other fleet changes during the pandemic.

"The recent crisis enabled us to push forward our decision to introduce an Airbus A220-300 single type fleet. It allows us to minimize complexity and benefit from the additional efficiency provided by the aircraft. We will continue our growth and add more capacity provided by additional jets in the future as outlined by the Destination 2025 CLEAN business plan," Chief Executive Martin Gauss said in a statement.

Under the current plan, airBaltic plans to take a further three A220s by the end of 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline retired its other two types, B737-300s and DHC-8-Q400s, accelerating...

Denmark's Jet Time declares bankruptcy, new Jettime gets AOC

Jet Time (2006) (JTG, Copenhagen Kastrup) has filed for bankruptcy at the Maritime and Commercial Court in Copenhagen. However, owner Lars Thuesen has told the Danish travel news site Check-in that some of its assets will be reconstituted into a new company.

The ACMI/charter specialist had expected to fly 350,000 Scandinavians south this summer on its fully leased fleet of two B737-700s and five B737-800s, with a workforce of around 400 employees, but covid-19 ended these plans.

“From one day to the next, we lost all of our earnings base without knowing when we could start flying again. It is a very strange situation to be in charge of a private company that 'de facto' has been banned from doing business,” CEO Jørgen Holme said in a statement on July 21.

On June 25, Jet Time sacked 313 of its 342 Danish staff, effectively putting the company to sleep, and repatriated most of its 57 employees at Finnish subsidiary Jet Time Finland (JTF, Helsinki Vantaa).

As previously reported, Birthe...