Originally Posted by
ObadiahDogberry
A lot will really depend on how much Norwegian's creditors are willing to bet on state aid saving the airline. If the company goes into bankruptcy, the creditors will assuredly lose a lot, and they will have to take their chances with the bankruptcy process to see what, if anything, they can recover. If they are confident that the Norwegian government will come through to save the airline, they may be more willing to gamble with converting their debt into equity in the hopes that in a few years they can sell their shares to recoup their money. Both seem like a big risk either way. It does seem like Norwegian is putting on the full court press within Norway, trying to scare the politicians and public into (probably somewhat realistic scenario) believing that much of Norway will lose flights if Norwegian goes under, and that what is kept will be operated by the likes of Ryanair and WizzAir.
Yes, they have produced a report that says the government can pay them 12 billion NOK and still come out on top.
To scare the public they claim it will cost the traveling public 7 billion NOK in increased air fares if they go under. Not sure how this mixes with the introduction of another loco in the Norwegian market.
Fact is, when SAS went on strike, the price of a ticket Oslo Stockholm with Norwegian jumped to 8000 NOK. So much for their low cost guarantee.
The Norwegian market is just a small part of Norwegian, and for the Norwegian state to pay to support staff in Ireland, UK, France, Spain, USA, Thailand, etc is just pain stupid. These worker contribute nothing to Norway.
Let these countries carry the cost. If they want to.