Norwegian Air Shuttle, a low-cost airline based in Norway, is facing numerous financial problems. Two days ago, it was forced to shut down four of its subsidiaries due to the coronavirus. The reason why Norwegian is one of the most affected airlines in the world is because it overexpanded. The airline operates a total of 37 Boeing 787’s with its subsidiaries and also placed an order for 95 Boeing 737 MAXs, 3 of which have been delivered. Of course, this doesn’t help very much, as the Boeing 737 MAX has been grounded for over a year now, and 1 Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a market value of around $142 million (actually, that’s pretty cheap, because sometimes, they cost around $260 million). It also has subsidiaries in the UK, Argentina, Sweden and Denmark plus a long-haul division that it uses for Trans-Atlantic flights. The airline’s 787 fleet has recently been suffering from engine and battery problems and those are not the plane model’s only defaults; on top of that, its emergency escape doors used to be riddled with technical bugs (for more information about that subject, please go on my “News Jan-Dec 16th” page). South African Airways is going to go bust soon, as the South African government has discontinued financial support for the airline, that has been operating since 1934. Virgin Australia is not finished yet, but it needs urgent government help as 16’000 jobs could be lost if the airline goes down with the ship. As promised, I will soon write an article about the Boeing 737, it’s just that with all these bankruptcies going on, I can’t always keep up. 22nd of April 2020.
Aeronews24 