Norwegian in Irish court Monday: Leasing companies accept bankruptcy protection

The case is being updated!

It has been almost three weeks since Norwegian announced that it is applying for bankruptcy protection in Ireland for several Irish subsidiaries – which, among other things, own all the aircraft.

The hearing in The High Court in Dublin started on Monday at 11.30 local time – at 12.30 Norwegian time.

Norwegian Irish lawyers and examiner Kieran Wallace of KPMG argues in front of Judge Michael Quinn. The documents in the case describe the critical situation of the airline – and the subsidiaries in Ireland in particular.

At the meeting, the leasing companies Aercap, BOC Aviation and Avolon said that they accept the plans in the application sent to court, and that they are “neutral”. It reports NRK and Reuters.

The Norwegian share is up just over ten percent after the creditors’ proposal in court.

Up to 150 days of treatment

The goal for Norwegian in the first instance is that the judge approves the bankruptcy protection, and then the treatment will last for 100 to 150 days.

The process applies to the company Arctic Aviation Assets (AAA) – which owns the aircraft of Norwegian – and the airline Norwegian Air International (NAI). Both companies and their subsidiaries have addresses in Dublin.

The consultation is about which assets can be included in the process, and suggestions on how the process should be resolved.

Norwegian wants the Norwegian parent company to be part of the process in Ireland through a morning guarantee. If this does not happen, Norwegian will request a process in Norway as well:

– Then we report the company into the Norwegian restructuring scheme, CFO Geir Karlsen told DN last week.

More than 48 billion in debt

Norwegian has invested all of its aircraft financing through Irish subsidiaries, and there is talk of net interest-bearing debt of NOK 48.5 billion at the end of September this year. Total debt in the group was close to NOK 67 billion.

Most of the debt is related to 140 aircraft that Norwegian either owns itself, or rents in:

• Norwegian’s Irish subsidiaries still own 44 Boeing 737 short-haul aircraft and 11 Boeing 787 Dreamliner long-haul aircraft. It is financed with bonds, loans and export guarantees.
• Via Irish companies, aircraft from international leasing companies are still leased – a total of 66 Boeing 737 aircraft and 26 Dreamliner long-haul aircraft.

All aircraft are then registered in various aviation registers in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway.

Can drop long distance

Norwegian CEO Jacob Schram has said several times that “New” Norwegian will continue on both short and long distance – but last week, chairman Niels Smedegaard said that it is considering moving on without long distance after the corona crisis.

– It is a big and good question, and we will of course spend some time on it. It can be said that all possibilities are at stake at the moment, but it has not been decided which way we should go. That’s what I can say now.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other form of use of all or part of the content, can only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For further terms see here.