Most of Nordica's assets consist of a claim against its subsidiary, Regional Jet.

When the Harju County Court declared Nordic Aviation Group bankrupt at the end of January, claims were initially estimated at €34 million. By the end of March—the deadline for submitting claims — that figure had more than doubled.

One of Nordica's bankruptcy trustees, Tarmo Peterson, a partner at the law firm RASK, said: "March 28 was the deadline for creditors to submit their claims. The total amount of claims submitted in the Nordica proceedings was €85 million. This sum has increased primarily due to damage claims arising from various breaches of contract."

Peterson added the final amount depends on how much can be recovered from Regional Jet's bankruptcy proceedings.

He said: "The claim is about €30 million. The reason it has grown so large is that many of the claims submitted through Nordica's bankruptcy have been partly transferred to the Regional Jet bankruptcy too. In addition, Nordica has paid deposits to various partners, but the chances of recovering those are relatively slim."

This pattern of bankruptcy proceedings is fairly typical, Peterson said. "One aspect is the assessment by the temporary trustees of how much liability the company has according to its accounting. And when bankruptcy is declared and creditors submit claims arising from breaches of contract, then often that amount ends up being significantly larger. And once bankruptcy is declared and creditors submit claims based on breaches of contract, the amount is often significantly higher," he continued.

He added that €85 million "certainly cannot be taken as the final figure" on Nordica's bankruptcy amount.

"These are the submitted claims, but now comes the process of reviewing them. Where there are justified objections, the trustees will submit them," Peterson continued.

At the time of Nordica's bankruptcy, trustees estimated around €400,000 in assets, split between cash and movable property. Auctions have been announced, but no deals have been made yet.

Peterson also noted that state credit agency Kredex has priority in claim satisfaction with Nordica, as a secured creditor.

"The size of Kredex's loan claim is about seven million, but how much of that is secured will ultimately depend on the value of the secured assets. And it is still too early to assess that — it will be revealed during the bankruptcy process," Peterson noted.

Nordica's largest creditor is another state-owned company, Transpordi Varahaldus, with a €36 million claim. Next is aircraft lessor Wilmington (€17.6 million), followed by Marabu Airlines OÜ (€10.7 million).

Nordica bankruptcy trustees are reviewing the submitted claims and are due to present a preliminary list of creditors for review on April 28.

After that, creditors and trustees can submit objections, and the final list of creditors will be approved by the court.

Nordica first filed for bankruptcy in November last year after attempts to float the airline on the stock market drew a blank. The company had made losses of over €8 million in the first half of 2024.

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