2019 will Make or Brake Norwegian!
First I would like to say I hope they survive, for two reasons.
1 Our fellow pilots in Norwegian
2 The absurdly dirt cheap tqt I regularly pick up in my perpetual commute, they have saved me tens of thousands of euros.
Now for the facts.
DN, the Norwegian FT stated on Friday 21/12 that they need 160 mill euro to not default at the loan terms.
What is more ,as per date they have 30 Billion Nkr of interest carrying debt, that is ca 3.2 Billion euro, give or take.
A Ponzi Scheme indeed.
As for the Norwegian Government goes they will not do a thing. They gave the Sørlandsbanen Train contract to some looser UK company and also sold the last SAS stocks.
On an optimistic note: If 2019 is politically and economically stable they will be ok.
Oh , I forgot we live in the most unstable time since the fall of the wall or perhaps since 1945.........
One of the problem Norwegian have super high seat cost for a so called low cost airline.
And having tried to make lowcost long haul with the most catastrophic airframe/ engine combo so fare in history, the NightmareLiner, they have been a bit out of luck.
As fare as terms for pilots goes we would be better off with them gone, in the long term.
But be careful what you wish for , MOL in Dublin has gambled on all Norwegian pilots begging him for jobs this spring so he can fly the summer program without cancellations.
AND so he can lower the terms he is about to sign with his own pilots.
I personally think that Norwegian has reached a form of critical mass so that present owners are more then willing to gamble more money.
I say gamble, as this is not risk allergic conservative investors we are talking about.
Also, due to a fair market share ,network and slots they are worth lots to any other medium or big airline.
OK
To the kitchen for PoppCorn