Moderators: FrankM, el, Dmmoore
Now there is a delicacy. Reminds me that I have a couple of kilos in the freezer. You can only buy them in season which is January and February. Must sacrifice some this week. With white wine, of course.https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/norw ... index.htmlIn Norway, kids are still making good money cutting cod tongues
Nothing in there about squid.
OSLO, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Norwegian Air, which less than a decade ago challenged British Airways and other long-established rivals by launching transatlantic flights, said on Thursday it will end those services, with 2,000 job losses, and seek government help.
The budget airline, founded in 1993, has been forced to ground all but six of its 138 aircraft due to the pandemic and will now focus on Nordic and European routes.
“We have decided that long-haul is no longer in our business plan,” Chief Executive Jacob Schram told an online news conference.
The plan also involves closing units in the United States, Italy, France and Britain, including its base at London Gatwick airport.
“The brutal reality is that (they) will be declared bankrupt ... 2,000 employees are affected,” said Schram.
The airline aims to cut its fleet to about 50 aircraft before expanding to around 70 in 2022, it said.
The plan must be approved by an Irish bankruptcy court. The next hearing is on Jan. 22.
The company and the centre-right minority government are now discussing possible state participation, both sides said.
“We are in the process of carefully considering the new business plan and Norwegian’s request to us to participate in a restructured company,” the industry ministry said in a statement to Reuters.
Norwegian’s 35-strong long-haul fleet of Boeing Dreamliners - most of which are leased - is now up for negotiation, finance chief Geir Karlsen told Reuters.
“Overall, this seems like a sensible plan,” said brokerage Davy. “The long-haul business was volatile and generally loss making since its launch in 2013 – in this environment, withdrawal is the only viable option.”
Norwegian risks running out of cash by the end of March if it fails to restructure debt and liabilities of 66.8 billion crowns ($7.89 billion), including 48.5 billion in interest-bearing debt, it warned late last year.
It hopes to cut debt to around 20 billion crowns and raise 4-5 billion from new shares and hybrid capital.
The new plan aligns with “signals” from Norwegian politicians about what would be required for the state to provide further help, Schram told Reuters.
The plan could return Norwegian to profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) later this year, based on conservative assumptions, it said.
However, Bernstein analysts said the planned debt reduction was too small. “It is more likely in our view, that the current Norwegian will eventually have to be wound down, and any continuation of the business will need to be built anew.”
CONCUR.I blame Americans in general and Boeing in particular.
Per
Stupidest use of money ever. Morons.World's first ship tunnel to be built under Norwegian mountains
Excerpt with map and images:
Norway has got the go-ahead to construct what's being billed as the world's first ship tunnel, designed to help vessels navigate the treacherous Stadhavet Sea.
First announced a few years ago by the Norwegian Coastal Administration, this mile-long, 118-feet-wide tunnel will burrow through the mountainous Stadhavet peninsula in northwestern Norway.
Building this engineering marvel will cost somewhere in the region of 2.8 billion Norwegian kroner ($330 million) and take between three to four years, with construction due to commence in 2022.
"It's a project that has been planned for decades. So it's very pleasant to finally be able to start the construction work in one year," temporary project manager Terje Andreassen from the Norwegian Coastal Administration tells CNN Travel.
At the moment, ships navigating the surrounds of Stadhavet are often impacted by rough tides and bad weather.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/norw ... index.html
OK, you win.Meanwhile, in the Greatest Country On Earth: https://www.adn.com/politics/alaska-leg ... e-highway/
Norse Atlantic closes in on ‘competitive’ 787 leases
By Cirium
26 March 2021
Long-haul start up Norse Atlantic Airways is closing in on its first lease agreements, chief executive Bjorn Tore Larsen has disclosed.
Larsen tells Cirium the Norway-based carrier expects to seal the deals “very soon”. He does not identify the lessors involved but says the lease rates that Norse Atlantic has been able to secure so far are “competitive”.
Norse Atlantic is seeking more long-haul aircraft, and Larsen encourages lessors with aircraft available to contact him. Lease terms of approximately 12 years are envisioned, he adds.
The start-up airline plans to fill the gap left by Norwegian by operating long-haul services between Europe and the USA from December 2021 using a fleet of Boeing 787s.
On 24 March, Norse Atlantic revealed that it was seeking to raise NKr1.28 billion ($152 million) via a private placement to fund its operations. It said it would use $4 million of this to fund lease deposits on up to 12 aircraft.
Rob Morris, global head of consultancy at Ascend by Cirium, believes that, given the dislocation in the long-haul market, Norse Atlantic should be able secure 787s at attractive rates.
“One of their first advantages is that they will be leasing their 787s at much lower rates than the original airline, with chatter in the market that the rents could be around half what Norwegian originally paid,” he says.
He notes that this is consistent with Ascend by Cirium’s current market lease rate opinion. It has, for example, a 2014-vintage 787-8 at a lease rate of $395,000 per month today compared with the $1.1 million per month upon original delivery and leased to Norwegian.
Morris highlights similar numbers for newer 787-9s, where for a 2018-build aircraft Ascend by Cirium has a lease rate are at $590,000 today compared with $980,000 when new.
“Avolon, AerCap and BOC Aviation all had aircraft leased to Norwegian, and with the market hardly awash with new 787 prospects I am sure they will be keen to place these aircraft with Norse Atlantic, which of course also avoids a potential costly cabin reconfiguration, assuming Norse Atlantic will use the same layout as Norwegian,” he adds.
He speculates that any leases Norse Atlantic secures may contain an element of by-the-hour rental clauses in the early part of the agreement, but adds: “I suspect the lessors will be conscious of their prior losses with Norwegian and thus negotiating hard to avoid risk in the early part of the contract if at all possible.”
Norwegian initiated formal restructuring in Ireland in November 2020 and in Norway a month later. The airline plans to exit restructuring as a domestic and regional operator and plans to phase out its entire fleet of 787s. It reached settlements with lessors over its outstanding leases earlier this year via the Irish High Court.
ORIX Aviation revealed it had been appointed to bring 14 Norwegian-operated aircraft – 12 737s and two 787s – to market for sale or lease.
Morris says lower rents should give Norse Atlantic some advantage compared with the original Norwegian model. Another advantage will be that the Rolls-Royce Trent engine technology is more mature, and the issues which dogged Norwegian are now “largely fixed”, so operational disruption and associated cost will be a lesser issue.
“I am sure Rolls-Royce will also be keen to support a potential new operator and see their engines back in service at a very tough time otherwise,” he adds.
Norse Atlantic could face opposition in the USA to its long-haul plans.
On 24 March, Reuters reported that chairman of the US house transportation and infrastructure committee Peter DeFazio had urged the Biden administration to deny a permit for Norse Atlantic to enter the US market.
Norwegian business newspaper E24 Naeringsliv reported on 25 March comments from US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg during the committee’s hearing that no application from Norse Atlantic for a US permit had yet been received.
Indeed, the Screamliner was such a huge success with Norwegian.Norse Atlantic closes in on ‘competitive’ 787 leases
By Cirium
26 March 2021
Long-haul start up Norse Atlantic Airways is closing in on its first lease agreements, chief executive Bjorn Tore Larsen has disclosed.
Larsen tells Cirium the Norway-based carrier expects to seal the deals “very soon”. He does not identify the lessors involved but says the lease rates that Norse Atlantic has been able to secure so far are “competitive”.
Norse Atlantic is seeking more long-haul aircraft, and Larsen encourages lessors with aircraft available to contact him. Lease terms of approximately 12 years are envisioned, he adds.
The start-up airline plans to fill the gap left by Norwegian by operating long-haul services between Europe and the USA from December 2021 using a fleet of Boeing 787s.
On 24 March, Norse Atlantic revealed that it was seeking to raise NKr1.28 billion ($152 million) via a private placement to fund its operations. It said it would use $4 million of this to fund lease deposits on up to 12 aircraft.
Rob Morris, global head of consultancy at Ascend by Cirium, believes that, given the dislocation in the long-haul market, Norse Atlantic should be able secure 787s at attractive rates.
“One of their first advantages is that they will be leasing their 787s at much lower rates than the original airline, with chatter in the market that the rents could be around half what Norwegian originally paid,” he says.
He notes that this is consistent with Ascend by Cirium’s current market lease rate opinion. It has, for example, a 2014-vintage 787-8 at a lease rate of $395,000 per month today compared with the $1.1 million per month upon original delivery and leased to Norwegian.
Morris highlights similar numbers for newer 787-9s, where for a 2018-build aircraft Ascend by Cirium has a lease rate are at $590,000 today compared with $980,000 when new.
“Avolon, AerCap and BOC Aviation all had aircraft leased to Norwegian, and with the market hardly awash with new 787 prospects I am sure they will be keen to place these aircraft with Norse Atlantic, which of course also avoids a potential costly cabin reconfiguration, assuming Norse Atlantic will use the same layout as Norwegian,” he adds.
He speculates that any leases Norse Atlantic secures may contain an element of by-the-hour rental clauses in the early part of the agreement, but adds: “I suspect the lessors will be conscious of their prior losses with Norwegian and thus negotiating hard to avoid risk in the early part of the contract if at all possible.”
Norwegian initiated formal restructuring in Ireland in November 2020 and in Norway a month later. The airline plans to exit restructuring as a domestic and regional operator and plans to phase out its entire fleet of 787s. It reached settlements with lessors over its outstanding leases earlier this year via the Irish High Court.
ORIX Aviation revealed it had been appointed to bring 14 Norwegian-operated aircraft – 12 737s and two 787s – to market for sale or lease.
Morris says lower rents should give Norse Atlantic some advantage compared with the original Norwegian model. Another advantage will be that the Rolls-Royce Trent engine technology is more mature, and the issues which dogged Norwegian are now “largely fixed”, so operational disruption and associated cost will be a lesser issue.
“I am sure Rolls-Royce will also be keen to support a potential new operator and see their engines back in service at a very tough time otherwise,” he adds.
Norse Atlantic could face opposition in the USA to its long-haul plans.
On 24 March, Reuters reported that chairman of the US house transportation and infrastructure committee Peter DeFazio had urged the Biden administration to deny a permit for Norse Atlantic to enter the US market.
Norwegian business newspaper E24 Naeringsliv reported on 25 March comments from US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg during the committee’s hearing that no application from Norse Atlantic for a US permit had yet been received.
Just wait until they made them return used toilet paper!
It tastes fine, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.I once noticed a roll of toilet paper at work that said "Made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials".
The combination of the concepts "toilet paper" and "post-consumer recycled" did not paint a good picture in my mind.
Norway's Flyr Files For Bankruptcy, Cancels All Flights
Aviation Week 02/01/2023
Author: Victoria Moores
Norwegian LCC Flyr has become the second European airline to collapse within a week.
The 18-month-old Boeing 737 operator suspended flights and filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 1, just four days after UK regional Flybe halted operations and went into administration.
“The [Flyr] board concluded on Tuesday evening [Jan. 31] that there are no alternatives for further operation. The company will file for bankruptcy on Wednesday morning [Feb. 1]. Flyr has now ceased trading and all flights are cancelled and will not be rescheduled,” Flyr announced via its website Jan. 31.
Oslo-based Flyr warned on Jan. 30 that it faced a “critical short term liquidity situation,” after failing to secure underwriting for a much-needed capital raise of up to NOK330 million ($33.4 million). This, in turn, placed a lifeline deal to sub-lease six 737s for charter flying this summer in jeopardy. That NOK30-90 million contract, signed in December 2022, was conditional on Flyr securing financing.
On Jan. 31, Flyr’s board voted unanimously to file for bankruptcy with Oslo city court. “There is no longer a realistic opportunity to achieve a solution for the short-term liquidity situation,” Flyr said in a stock market disclosure. The company apologized to everyone affected by its “landing” and advised passengers to pursue refunds with their credit card companies.
Flyr’s shares have been suspended on the Euronext Growth Oslo and bankruptcy trustees will now be appointed. Flyr is a publicly listed company and its ownership is spread across 24,000 shareholders. The company employs around 450 staff.
Two key factors contributed to Flyr’s demise: COVID and weak domestic demand, caused by distribution problems. In a December 2022 interview, newly appointed Flyr CEO Brede Huser told Aviation Daily that the omicron COVID variant cost Flyr NOK500 million, and the fledgling airline did not receive any state-backed loans. Record-high fuel costs also began to bite.
“In July, we had the same ex-fuel unit cost as Norwegian did. We had 10 aircraft, they had 70 aircraft, so we are very cost-efficient on a low scale,” Huser said in December. After Norway’s peak holiday season ended in mid-August 2022, Flyr began to redeploy its fleet from European leisure routes to domestic operations, but competition was fierce and Flyr could not capture enough traffic.
“The weakness for Flyr, since the start, has been domestic traffic,” Huser said. “We didn’t quite have enough travel-agency distribution and corporate agreements to absorb that increase in domestic.”
Local travel agent Berg-Hansen, which has 40% market share of business traffic in Norway, only began distributing Flyr in November.
Flyr used IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) from its launch and had planned to start travel-agency distribution just before summer 2022, but this was delayed to November. “Part of the explanation is the choice of NDC technology,” Huser said, because there was a lack of IT capacity to upgrade travel agency systems to NDC.
When IATA launched NDC in 2012, it was heralded as a way for airlines to take greater control of their products and create a more tailored experience for passengers. A decade later, small- and mid-sized airlines have struggled to keep pace with evolving NDC standards. The transition to NDC also requires heavy investment from travel retailers—and some airlines are using this new pipeline to deliver the same old content, with no NDC features.
Huser abandoned the planned domestic ramp-up and Flyr instead grounded six aircraft, furloughed half its staff, slashed its cost base by 50% and redeployed its remaining capacity to major European cities and leisure destinations. Aviation Week Network’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization tool shows how Flyr started to grounded aircraft from November.
Huser, who was previously Flyr’s CFO, took over leadership of the airline from founding CEO Tonje Wikstrøm Frislid on Nov. 25 to mark a new chapter for the carrier. But Flyr’s November financing plan ultimately failed to take off, leading to the Feb. 1 bankruptcy application.
Flyr launched in June 2021 and carried 1.8 million passengers using a fleet of six 737-800s and six 737-8s. According to the Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database, the six 737-8s are owned by Air Lease and were scheduled to remain with Flyr until 2031, while the 737-800s had been leased until 2027-28 and are owned by a mix of lessors: Air Lease, Bank of America, Orix Aviation, Pembroke and SDH Wings Leasing.
News of Flyr’s demise follows immediately after the failure of UK regional Flybe, which suspended flights and entered administration on Jan. 28, less than a year after its April 2022 relaunch. Flybe operated a fleet of eight De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 aircraft.
“Unfortunately, the company had to withstand a number of shocks since its relaunch, not least of which was the late delivery of 17 aircraft which it needed for its schedule, and which has severely compromised both the airline’s capacity and its ability to remain competitive,” joint Flybe administrator David Pike said. “This has driven significant financial losses and [was] an associated cash drain for the business.”
The old Flybe failed in March 2020. The reincarnated airline was led by CEO Dave Pflieger, the former CEO of Alaska-based regional airline Ravn Air.
Birmingham, England-based Flybe had been operating 17 routes, connecting 10 UK airports plus Amsterdam and Geneva. UK Civil Aviation Authority data shows that, other than in their first month of operation, Flybe never achieved an average monthly load factor higher than 55%.
UK pilots’ union BALPA noted that sudden airline collapses are “hugely damaging” for everyone involved. “Many of the staff of Flybe will have recently suffered the harrowing effects of one bankruptcy, and now they are being subjected to yet another. BALPA will not only support its members through this difficult time, but will seek to work with the [UK Transport Department] to improve the regulatory framework to avoid such sudden and precipitous events in the future,” BALPA General Secretary Martin Chalk said.
I think it's all a smokescreen, to hide the fact they're so distraught that the 747 isn't being made any more.Norway's Flyr Files For Bankruptcy, Cancels All Flights
Etc. etc.
Enough said....Boeing 737 operator...
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