Norse Air running on empty

[strong medicine]

hi everyone,

i recently met a pilot from norse air on my way on tour but i didnt have an opportunity to talk to him for too long. ive not heard about them till now, can anyone tell me what they fly, what their reputation is like and any other information?

[Jelly Doughnut]

I used to fly for Balmoral, Norse is where most of our aircraft/crew went to when Balmoral closed its doors. Don't know much about their operation now but check the website http://www.norseair.co.za/
I might be able to get some contacts for you.

[Dammit]

Hi there Jelly 'D'. Maybe you have another nickname I might know. I've heard of Norse Air. Mixed replies. Sounds like the crew is not very happy there. Pay sounded good but I hear the management is not so hot. Usual contract company bull. Those guys never change.....:yuk:

[strong medicine]

balmoral, has any of their management moved across into norse air?
some interesting storys about them. they did so well for a while and rumour has it management was responsible for there ending?

[Selcalweb.co.uk]

Was listening to 11300KHz last night and heard one of their aircraft. Callsign was NRX1001 and was routing Benghazi to Nairobi with an ETA of 2251z. Gave type as IL76 and registration mark YU-AMI.

I show YU-AMI as belonging to Kosmas Air though.

Not of any particular use I know, just thought I'd mention it! First time I've heard one!

R

[makeapullup]

NRX1001 YUAMI flew today HKJK-CT arrived at about 0600. Been alot of IL76's around lately. Mostly flying to FMCH under SAAF callsigns.

[Selcalweb.co.uk]

NRX1001 YUAMI flew today HKJK-CT arrived at about 0600. Been alot of IL76's around lately. Mostly flying to FMCH under SAAF callsigns.

Thanks for the info!

R

[340_co-jock]

Hi guys.
I have the oppurtunity to fly for Norse Air in Afghanistan on a B200. Can any good souls out there give me some more info on accomodation, pay, general conditions with Norse Air and the length of tours.
I hear that they pay well.
340

[bathtub200]

Can anybody confirm or deny that Norseair has been liquidated last friday and also that Lonrho has pulled all the financial backing.

[SAASFO]

Not true, Bathtub200. There may be issues between the original shareholder and Lonhro, but Norse Air has not been "liquidated". What did happen is that the crewing contract in Gabon for the Saab 340 was terminated because the operator wanted the Norse Air crews to bust FDP and they refused with the full backing of Norse Air management. Norse Air then terminated the contract.

[Zoltan]

SAASFO - Sorry bud, unfortuanately its true, Norse Air was liquidated and Lohnro did pull out their G3 and SAAB's. Sorry about that, at least theres lots of work around for the crew !

[plane breeze]

please explain where u got the info on the liquidation as the G3 and all the saabs are still operating

[Merlin M.]

Zoltan, is the air up there getting a bit thin for you? :zzz: The company that was liquidated is Lobtrans, which owns shares in ONE of the SF34's.

Others were temporarily grounded while waiting for a signature from the Committee Against Aviation to extend an SB as a result of SAAB not being able to provide spares for the SB.

Actual facts are:
1. The Norse Air GIII is still flying.
2. All the rest of the SAAB's are flying (except those without crew).
3. Lonrho has not pulled out their investment.

[Zoltan]

Merlin M. No need to get in a huff my boy, you might use up the last bit of oxygen up here..:ooh:

I stand corrected, the banks foreclosed on Norse, not liquidated yet, they have a grace period to sort themselves out...anyone remember Rossair ? Hopefully it turns out better than that though..

[Cleveagecrack]

Who know's what's going on, but I had a call today informing me that ExecuJet is going under. So who's going under and who's on top????? Makes for intresting conversation :-)

[I.R.PIRATE]

From the horse's mouth. All BS and rumour, except for the part about a certain SAAB 340 owner.

[AAL]

"From the horse's mouth. All BS and rumour, except for the part about a certain SAAB 340 owner..."

S'cuse Sir, perhaps you erroneously ommitted: "and a certain highly aggitated major European investor". !!!

[JMSP]

Any news on the rumour that Norse Air's days are almost over.

[Malagant]

The GIII is not flying as it is in maintenance and has lots of corrosion on it..not gonna fly anytime soon from what I hear..

[Coleman Myers]

Is Dave Avnitt still involved in Norse air ?.

[TooBadSoSad]

Dave Avnit is still involved and Lonhro still owns 50% of the company. They also own the G3, ZS-LAH. It is in for a major check and a refurb, plus the post about corrosion is true.

Norse has some really great people working for them, including Sej Dunning, who any ex-Rossair pilot would hold in the highest regard.

They also have strong SAAF contracts using Russian aircraft.

Dave is a survivor and hopefully he will keep Norse together.

[Coleman Myers]

Excellent to hear he's still at the helm ..

[Golf_Seirra]

The Kabul contract is going strong....it is now in the hands of ex Balmoral Robin Reid. The percentages of ownership may have changed and there is a new name involved, but there are more a/c on their way to KBL. Current machines are 3 x BE20, 2 x B190, 2 x Bell212 and even an Mi-8. Salaries are around $ 4500 for FO's. Tours are normally around 2 months on 1 off & 6 weeks on & 6 off for captains.

Regarding Norse, if anyone knows the CP, he does not bull****. There is some heavy metal in the pipeline and here's to their success....same old boardroom barrel-rolls all contract companies go thru...

[Malagant]

The corrosion is worse than they thought and looks like that GIII not in good shape, but they looking at a GIV..some crew gonna b happy to get on that machine!:ok: O`l Robin Reid still lining the pockets there then..?:eek:

[glacier country]

Hi all, I have lost touch with Sej since he was in Singapore. Does anyone have a current email address for him? Please drop me a private message if you can!

Thanks!

[AAL]

TooBadsoSad:

“You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. When the majority of people eventually discover your unethical behaviour, they are sure to write you off.” - Anonymous.

Somebody is feeding you donkey doo and you are eating it for figs. If not that you are are deliberately confusing our readers and members and must have an agenda for doing doing so. The real truth is that the situation is nothing that you describe.

Norse has no government contract. They merely bid/tender along with all the others on an equal footing!

The SAAB's are a liability and ownership is becoming a disaster day by day.

Their woe's are also not limited to the legal steps that Lonrho has taken against them, but compounded by the "Russian" who demanded his money refunded for the initial acquisition of the SAAB's - which was settled out of court and Norse still trying to repay.

And then for the biggest lie of all, their relationship with Lonrho which you suggest is all rosy and honky dorey:

This from chairman's report Year End Results of Lonhro:

Norse Air Limited ("Norse Air")

* Because of a dispute with the management and the effect that this had
on the business, Lonrho has made the decision to fully provide against the
carrying value of its investment in Norse Air, effectively excluding it from
Lonrho Group operations, as at 30 September 2007.

The management situation at Norse Air, which is more fully explained in theChief Executives' Review of Operations, resulted in us instigating legal actionagainst Norse Air and its non-Lonrho nominated Directors in December 2007. YourBoard felt that this approach was necessary to protect the Group's interests.This legal action is currently ongoing. As a result, a provision of £4.4million has been made to write off our investment in Norse Air, which hasadversely affected the results of the year.

Report from CEO of Lonrho

Norse Air Limited ("Norse Air")

Lonrho's original investment in Norse Air was made in November 2006. Norse Air
is a charter, leasing and maintenance company that operates from a base in South
Africa. Although we initially only acquired 43% of this company we believed that, through the terms of the shareholder agreement, we had control and hence Norse was treated as a subsidiary of the Group and its results were fully consolidated for the period since acquisition in our interim results for the six
months ended 31 March 2007. Lonrho believed that it had increased its
shareholding in Norse to 51% on 5 September 2007. However this is disputed by
the other shareholders and is now subject to ongoing legal action.

Unfortunately, we have also subsequently had a number of other serious issues
with management of Norse Air (who own the balance of the equity). It has been
argued by the management that Lonrho cannot exercise the control that we believe
we had. As a result of this, our investment in Norse Air has now been classified
as a participating interest in the consolidated accounts, for the whole of the
period since the date of the original acquisition.

Because of the serious loss of confidence in the management of Norse Air and the effect that this has had on the business, we have made the decision to fully
provide against the carrying value of our investment as at 30 September 2007.
This has resulted in a loss of £4.4m in the year to September 2007. The Board
believes that this was the most prudent approach to take given the ongoing
uncertainty of the outcomes of the various legal actions, including to gain
access to the financial records of the Norse Air group of companies, that we
have been forced to take against the management of Norse Air. This legal action
is currently ongoing.

The Board confirms that, other than the ongoing legal costs associated with the
action being taken against the management of Norse Air, there is no further
exposure to Lonrho in relation to any liabilities of Norse Air.

The Board has agreed that Lonrho will not inject any further funds into the
Norse Air group of companies to settle any liabilities or losses that have, or
may have, been incurred. It is therefore with regret that, having been left with
no alternative but to instigate legal action in December 2007 for full
disclosure from the management, we have had to take the drastic step of
excluding Norse Air from the Lonrho Group operations with effect from 30
September 2007.

The Board did not take this decision lightly. However, it was felt necessary in
the circumstances in order to protect Lonrho shareholders from any further exposure in respect of Norse Air.

Read the writing on the wall - before it is too late!!!!

[TooBadSoSad]

AAL, I only became aware of the full situation with Lonrho and Norse yesterday and you are correct in most of what you have stated. This is certainly not looking good for Norse or their directors, but I certainly hope that they manage to keep their heads above water as there are many good people working for Norse

However, I disagree that the Saabs are a liability as they are great aircraft which could have made Norse a lot of money if they had been placed in the correct environment and on viable contracts.

[AAL]

You are correct, the SAAB's on the correct routes and applications will work but single aircraft operations thousands of km's from home and AMO, under dubious circumstances and with/for/under suspect circumstances is a liability. They are trying more and more desperate things with these machines with dubious operators which will eventualy bite them big time.

In this industry (and in life) we have all learned, dont do desperate things when in doubt - its fatal.

As for their IL-76, it was leased but now long gone, returned to its owner.

Yes, of course there are fine people at Norse and one hopes that everything works out for them, but while some above praise Avnit, it is exactly the management who through short sightedness and over hasty "greed", that managed the company into this situation.

Their only chance (if it is still possible) is to rationalise, shed their unnecessary baggage, and again focuss on their core business that initialy distinguished them in the African industry.

"To have a small, lean, and efficient successful aviation business - first try a big one!"

[garyoke157]

I heard that there is another company starting up in South Africa under the balmoral name. I think it's called Balmoral Air Charter and rumour has it that Robin Reid's involved. Don't know how true it is though.

[Cloud Break]

Does anyone have anymore info on what is happening at Norse Air? I heard that they possibly may be stopping ops tomorrow. Two of my associates know several people who have been made redundant. What is happening to contract companies in South Africa?:confused:

[Solenta]

Heard the same rumor yesterday from our reps attending the Raytheon conference.
If true, this is NOT good news, as peoples jobs and livelihood are at stake.
I hope that it is just that, a rumor - there are already too many pilots and aviation Ops people looking for jobs, Cv's are flying in at about 20 per day.
Good luck to all of you.

[Gooneybird]

The economic crisis is coming to bear on SA aviation...things will get a whole lot worse before they get better I reckon.