Norwegian air

Valhallapt wrote: »

I wonder will they get nationalised by the Norwegian government, don't the Norwegians already own a chunk of SAS which will need a bailout? It would be a reasonably good fit for Ryanair??

Possibly.. but no airline will be purchasing another at the moment. Airlines worldwide have one goal, preserve cash.

TomSweeney wrote: »

Is it possible to get a refund if you paid for flights with credit card on Norwegian ?
scheduled to fly to Norway on June 30, but so far all I've been offered is vouchers or reschedule - now reschedule would be grand, but I don't know will Norwegian air even exist in June/July 2021!!

I'd say Norwegian,more than most airlines are clinging onto as much cash as possible.
All I'm being offered is a voucher also. I was thinking that if I held off until the date of the flight had passed and could prove it was cancelled that I could put a chargeback through my CC.
As it stands, a voucher for E700 Euro, for an airline that mightn't exist in a few months time isn't a gamble I'm happy to take.
It also expires after 12 months....

That would be great, thanks.

TomSweeney wrote: »

Cheers, I'm hoping for a refund too, just go on a better holiday next year with SAS ...

My outward journey from Dublin was with SAS who seem to be giving refunds. I'll apply this week for that one.
Even though technically the flight hasn't been cancelled they seem to be offering full refunds.

Locker10a wrote: »

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/15/norwegian-air-uk-pilots-and-cabin-crew-will-not-receive-april-salary-covid-19

“Pilots and cabin crew employed in the UK by the struggling airline Norwegian Air Shuttle have been told they will not receive their April salary because the airline does not have the money to pay them.”

Ouch, big time ouch, at least have the decency to tell your employees that they wont get paid before they do the work.

News articles recently said they have temporarily sacked 90% of their workforce.
I know some of the pay in the airline World is often productivity based so the hours worked last month would be paid this month etc.

Were they staff with permanent employment contracts or contractors or temporary workers subject to probationary periods. Also just because they report for duty at a work place in a certain jurisdiction it doesn't necessarily mean they have an employment contract with an employer based in same. Many of the worlds bottom feeder airlines have over the years attempted to circumvent social security and employment legislation and some still do.

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Not up to Norwegian to do that.

How come?

Tenzor07 wrote: »

They are employed by OSM Aviation UK.

I simply asked why the staff have not be furloughed and made eligible for the UK Covid 19 payment which is also open to self employed contractors.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/four-staffing-units-norwegian-air-112028869.html

Various subsidiary’s of Norwegian have filed for bankruptcy as well as Norwegian terminating contracts with OSM and Rishworths which if I understand correctly means that some 4,700 of the ~6,700 pilots and cabin crew have now been made fully redundant.
This is a last ditch effort to save Norwegian and it looks like they will try and go back to their roots and be a Norwegian centric airline again.

My thoughts go out to all the staff affected, of which I know many Irish will be impacted by this news too.

Locker10a wrote: »

It’s quite confusing, so 4 of their owned HR agencies, through whom they employed their staff have gone bankrupt? Do I have that correct ?
I would imagine if they survive or are bailed out, they will then just re-employ these staff ?

From what I understand is that Norwegians direct subsidiaries in Sweden and Denmark have declared bankruptcy. Norwegian themselves have terminated pilot and cabin crew contracts via OSM and Richworths.

Looks theyll need other Governments to save those arms of the company. Norway appears to be looking after the Norwegian arm of it.

Norwegian basically going to turn into a local/regional airline for the next 2 years if they survive.

Dunno what they will do with their fleet with only a handful operating...

Interesting times for that airline:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-27/norwegian-proposes-debt-restructuring-that-will-wipe-out-owners

john boye wrote: »

Norwegional?

Over here in Norway they are (or were pre-COVID) used an awful lot for domestic routes. So in and around Scandinavia there's still plenty of demand for them.

They for the most part competed with SAS on nearly every regional route, and for some cities offered a lot of frequency. On previous trips I've found myself often selecting Norwegian over SAS because their domestic product was often better than what SAS had to offer.

In many cases the only difference was that Norwegian tended to be cheaper, while SAS would offer one checked bag and a hot drink included in the price. More often than not, the Norwegian flight was plenty good without the free coffee...especially if I was only on a day-trip for work.

Ignoring all of their international woes, Norwegian have also been a good regional airline.

Norway - member of EEA but not EU. Picks and chooses which EU laws it wishes to incorporate into its own legislation. Avails of 5th freedom rights, EU traffic rights and free movement of trade etc.

Norwegian Airlines - is able to benefit of all of the above. And when it suits set up EU based subsidaries in member states availing of tax breaks for aircraft purchases/leases/cheaper labour through intermediaries etc.

All of the above has been undertaken within the prevailing law and against a backdrop of some of the lowest fuel costs the industry has seen and yet they haven't been able to turn a profit.