European carriers suspend ops amid increased border controls

Nigeria's Cally Air secures first B737

Estonian gov’t praises Nordica, confirms €30mn aid

The Estonian government has confirmed that it will inject EUR22 million euros (USD27 million) into the share capital of flag carrier Nordica (ND, Tallinn Lennart Meri) and will additionally transfer a loan of EUR8 million (USD10 million), economy minister Taavi Aas revealed at a press conference.

Aas said he had received authorisation from the government to provide the Covid-combating state aid, which already has the blessing of the European Commission. The package will be formalised once discussions on acquiring LOT Polish Airlines’ 49% stake in Nordica’s ACMI/charter subsidiary Xfly (EE, Tallinn Lennart Meri) have concluded.

He said at the December 3 news briefing, as quoted by bne IntelliNews: “As a result of a discussion in the cabinet today, the specifications will be clarified and I very much hope that an additional session of the government will take place [soon] in which the allocation of funds will be decided.”

He added: “Nordica has found a niche and is offering strong competition with its presence. With this support, it can recover better and stronger.”...

airBaltic eyes IPO in 2022/3, opens Lithuanian entity

airBaltic (BT, Riga) has submitted a solution to Latvia’s Ministry of Transport to recover the EUR250 million euros (USD299 million) the state has invested in the company’s equity, chief executive Martin Gauss has told the news agency LETA. The proposal envisages an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Riga stock exchange and possibly a dual listing.

“We have submitted information on how we propose to do this to the ministry, and the ministry will then submit this to the Cabinet of Ministers. As we already know, we’ve offered to start listing airBaltic’s shares. However, the earliest this could take place would be the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023,” he said in the November 27 interview.

The overall aim of the IPO would be for the state to recover at least the amount that it invested, but the airline may encourage the government to seek to raise EUR500 million (USD597 million) in the offering, Gauss said.

“It would be premature to give specific figures because we have not even attracted banks...

Latvian court awards Ryanair €1.6mn in Riga Airport suit