Fidonet faster than the press ...
 
People hoping to travel ultra-cheap next summer on Primera Air between Europa
and North America can spend their money on something else ... They are filing
for bankruptcy tomorrow.
 
Pilots and cabin crew of Primera Air have received a this e-mail this
afternoon:
 
    Dear colleagues,
 
   It is with great regret I am reaching out to you all this dark day. We
   have just been informed that both Primera Air Nordic and Primera Air
   Scandinavia will ile for bankruptcy tomorrow October 2, 2018.
 
It is not a big surprise for anyone who follows closely the airline industry:
Primera had engaged in an unsustainable growth, announcing new flights from
several European capitals (including Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London
Stansted, Madrid, ...) to North American cities: Boston, New York (EWR and
JFK), Toronto, Washington, all with a fleet of brand new Boeing 737 MAX
aircraft to be delivered in early 2019.
 
Primera had a bad reputation: it abruptly cancelled all its transatlantic
flights from Birmingham earlier this year, and travellers had a lot of
difficulties to be reimbursed, let alone get an EU261 compensation. The
European flights also suffered many delays and cancellations, and passengers
had the same problems.
 
On 1 October, at least one Primera Air Scandinavia Airbus A321 (OY-PAF) was
detained at Stansted Airport for unpaid airport charges.
 
Sadly, another one bites the dust
 
Full mail send out to staff
 
*****************************************************************************
Dear colleagues,
 
It is with great regret I am reaching out to you all this dark day. We have
just been informed that both Primera Air Nordic and Primera Air Scandinavia
will file for bankruptcy tomorrow October 2, 2018.
 
Currently flights are operated as normally and OCC, Crewing and Travel are
working on arranging travel home for crews who happen to be on outstations.
 
Reasons I am sure are many but very high cost for the aircraft with corrosion
last year as well as the delays of our new Airbuses lead to too high costs for
wet lease and cancellations which in the end became too much for the airlines.
Our owner was working on securing financing but was not able to in the end.
This is what was stated during today's staff meeting in the Riga office.
 
All the staff in the Riga office have been informed but official information
will not be sent out until midnight by our owner. I understand it is difficult
but please keep this to yourself if you can until after the official
notification from the owner. In fact, I am not even authorized to send this
email but I think it is the right thing to do for all of you out there on the
line. You deserve to know.
 
I will continue to be available on phone and email.
 
God knows it has not been without its challenges but thanks to all of you
great colleagues it has been a real honour to be at the controls of the flight
ops department the past 7 years. We got the permits, we flew the flights, we
got good reviews from the passengers. In other words, we fulfilled our part of
the mission. The financial and commercial aspects we could not influence.
 
Thank you all for the past years and take good care of you out there.
 
Best regards,
 
A. L.
Director Flight Operations
Primera Air

--- D'Bridge 3.99 SR33
 * Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)