Norwegian Air’s subsidiaries for employing pilots and cabin crew in Denmark and Sweden have filed for bankruptcy.
The companies are part of the Norwegian Group and responsible for hiring the airline’s pilots and cabin crew in the two countries.
Furthermore, struggling Norwegian says it has cancelled crew provision agreements with personell management company OSM Aviation. This affects employees based in Spain, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, according to the carrier.
More specifically, the low-cost carrier states that 1,571 pilots and 3,134 cabin crew will be affected by the measures, including the bankruptcies. Only around 700 pilots and 1,300 cabin crew remain unaffected. These employees are based in Norway, France and Italy.
It is not yet clear how this will affect and change Norwegian’s overall flight operations in the future. Chief Executive Officer Jacob Schram says that it is the company’s goal to bring “as many colleagues back in the air as possible“.
At the moment, almost all of the airline’s flights are cancelled due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Travel restrictions around the world have forced airlines to ground the majority of their fleets, lay off employees and even make long-term cuts.
While Norwegian is now also hit by the financial effects of the current crisis, the airline has been making huge losses before, and therefore struggles to secure funding in this unprecedented time. In a statement issued on Monday it says that it had asked the governments of Denmark and Sweden for help but did not receive ‘significant financial support’ in the countries.
Prior to the Coronavirus crisis, Norwegian’s fleet consisted of almost 150 aircraft, including Boeing 737-800 for short- and medium-haul flights and 787 Dreamliner for intercontinental routes. The airline also operated the Boeing 737 MAX before the type’s still ongoing grounding in March 2019.
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Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
