In a press release issued on Monday afternoon, the airline said that the financial support packages offered by the Swedish and Danish government had not been sufficiently generous to keep the subsidiaries which employ pilots and cabin crew in the two countries solvent.
”The impact the Coronavirus has had on the airline industry is unprecedented. We have done everything we can to avoid making this last-resort decision and we have asked for access to government support in both Sweden and Denmark”, said Norwegian's chief executive Jacob Schram in the statement.
“Our pilots and cabin crew are the core of our business and they have done a fantastic job for many years.”
“It is heart-breaking that our Swedish and Danish pilot and cabin crew subsidiaries now are forced to file for bankruptcy, and I’m truly sorry for the consequences this will have for our colleagues,” Norwegian's chief executive Jacob Schram said in the statement.
“We are working around the clock to get through this crisis and to return as a stronger Norwegian with the goal of bringing as many colleagues back in the air as possible.”
The company said it was also immediately ending staffing deals with the OSM Aviation, which supplies it with crew based in Spain, UK, Finland, Sweden and the US.
The company said that 1,571 pilots and 3,134 cabin crew would be affected by the move, with only the 700 pilots and 1,300 cabin crew based in Norway, France and Italy being kept on.
In the release, the company blamed the “the lack of significant financial support” from the Swedish and Danish governments, which it contrasted with that of Norway, which has agreed to pay “all salary related costs” while staff are furloughed.
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The government of Sweden needs to help SAS. Norwegian is from Norway, that’s why Norway government help them.
Norwegian isn’t even partly owned by the government. It’s a great company if things are going right but useless when a problem arises, as for trying to get EU law compensation for delayed flights, that’s a fight.
They disingenuously sent emails out to customers whose flights had been affected offering them TWO forms of compensation, re-book or a voucher. The law states a money refund MUST be offered as well.
Why would anyone want to accept the first two options when the airline industry, especially Norwegian, is in massive trouble? Norwegian were already heavily in debt before the virus trouble.