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The company that owns and operates several Norwegian airports ended with a strong deficit in the first quarter. Now 550 employees have been notified of layoffs.
CEO: Dag Falk-Petersen at Avinor. Here during the official opening of the Oslo airport in 2017.
Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix
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Avinor ended up with a loss of minus 476 million after tax, compared to a loss of 48.1 million after tax in the same period last year. Pre-tax profit was 610.8 against a loss of 61.8 million in the first quarter of last year.
This is the quarterly report for the first quarter of 2020, released by the group on Wednesday. Avinor writes that last year’s decrease is due to travel restrictions and airport fares suspended in March.
The company owns and operates several Norwegian airports, and posted 558.3 million in traffic revenue in the first quarter compared to just over 700 million in the same period last year.
Several hundred notified of layoffs
Avinor states that 550 employees have been notified that they will be totally or partially fired.
– In addition, senior management levels have voluntarily agreed to a pay cut for three months, CEO Dag Falk-Petersen says in a statement.
He emphasizes that the company has good control over its own infection situation, operations and continual preparation.
At the same time, the company claims that cost reduction measures are being implemented and that the crown situation will have a strong negative impact.
– It is not clear when we return to an almost normal situation. Avinor has maintained and is in constant dialogue with the owner on measures to strengthen the Group’s liquidity and equity, the report indicates.
Milliardtap
In the first quarter, 9.7 million passengers traveled through Avinor airports. This is a decrease of 21 percent compared to the same period in 2019. According to the company, the dropout rate in April was 91 percent compared to last year’s figures.
Avinor had budgeted NOK 12 billion in revenue this year.
Earlier this week, CEO Dag Falk-Petersen told NRK that seven to eight billion will disappear as a result of the crown crisis.
On March 18, Avinor closed a total of nine short-distance airports in northern Norway and western Norway. These will reopen on June 1.
Despite a dramatic decrease in passenger traffic in recent months, authorities have ordered the company to keep several airports open to accommodate ambulance flights and regular planes that are still in transit.
– We have largely retained costs while revenues are gone. This is dramatic for the company, Falk-Petersen told NRK on Monday.
Five billion
In the revised national budget, which was presented on Tuesday, the government will strengthen Avinor by NOK 5 billion.
“In this way, we are preparing Avinor, and flying to Norway, for a day of the week when the coronavirus disappears,” Transport Minister Knut Arild Hareide (KrF) said in a press release when presented the budget.
The billions are distributed in grants, loan payments, and the state does not pay dividends.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Transport described Avinor’s situation as “critical”.
In its quarterly report on Wednesday, Avinor says that supporting the crisis, as well as reducing costs and measures to strengthen liquidity, will ensure that the company can meet its delivery commitments and socially imposed tasks.
Cut investments
Avinor announced in April that they would cut planned investments this year by more than NOK 1 billion, and that they would be considered major projects. This implies, among other things, a new airport in Bodø and new terminals in Tromsø and Trondheim.
The government’s five billion crises will help stop planned and initiated investment projects.
At the same time, Transport Minister Knut Arild Hareide stressed Tuesday that no guidelines have been established on how state subsidies will be used. He notes that Avinor is a limited company, which decides for itself how much and where the money should be invested.
Avinor said Wednesday that they are now considering what will happen with these projects.
– A critical review of ongoing and planned investment projects is also underway and other cost-cutting measures, including employee layoffs, are being implemented, the company says in its quarterly report.
