CEO: Nordica's loss should remain under €20 million
State-owned airline Nordica made a loss of €3.8 million in 2019. The company's 2020 loss will amount to roughly €20 million, CEO Erki Urva said.
The airline's 2019 loss was one of the reasons Nordica stopped flying out of Tallinn last fall, while the coronavirus this year will see that loss balloon. The airline's summer state aid application forecasts it at €23 million, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported on Friday.
"The loss will not be that great, but it will definitely be bigger than last year. It is hardly any wonder as we went from having 24 aircraft in the air to having none or just a singe one. /…/ But it should not exceed €20 million," Nordica CEO Erki Urva said.
State aid in the volume of €30 million will be used to cover Nordica's 2020 loss.
To qualify for state aid, Nordica had to end Polish airline LOT's 49 percent stake in subsidiary Regional Jet.
"We have an agreement in place to terminate it in late November. Text of contracts has been agreed on," Urva said.
Estonia wants all subsidiaries to be owned exclusively by Nordica. In addition to Regional Jet, aircraft asset manager Transpordi Varahaldus will be merged with Nordica soon.
"As concerns Transpordi Varahaldus that owns our aircraft, we need permission from banks to merge the companies as loans and bonds are in that company. /…/ That is what we will be working on in the near future. If all goes well, I believe we can move closer to merging the companies," said Toomas Tiivel, chairman of Nordica's supervisory board.
Regional Jet will continue flying for other airlines for which it has an airline certificate and airline code "EE." Nordica cannot use that code and was issued an airline certificate from the Aviation Authority for a single-aircraft airline that will allow it to apply for a code.
"We plan to use that plane for publicly procured lines. But once we have the code, we hope to have a commercial platform of our own early next year. /…/ We have not yet secured an activity license from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, but once that comes in, we can say that Nordica is no longer a travel agent but an airline," Urva said.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
