Airlines will have covered up to 13-14 billion in lost state revenue: – We need everything we can get from the aid.

On Friday, the management of Norwegian, Widerøe and SAS, together with the industry organization NHO Luftfart, met with Trade and Industry Minister Iselin Nybø (V) in central Oslo. The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Transport and Communications Knut Arild Hareide (Krf) and the Ministry of Finance.

At the meeting, ministers received a series of wishes and proposals to carry the industry through the crown crisis and, most importantly, a proposal that the state make up for lost revenue this year and next. It was E24 that announced this proposal only on Friday.

The proposal to make up for lost revenue has also been mentioned by NHO Luftfart before the summer. Now it is presented as a solution in lieu of a new round of state loan guarantees.

“We need everything we can get”

On the way to the meeting, Norwegian CEO Jacob Schram was quiet:

– We are facing all airlines, SAS, Widerøe and ourselves, in the biggest crisis since the Second World War. We must convey this and see how the state can contribute to alleviating the challenges we have.

– Is cash support needed now instead of loan guarantees?

– I don’t want to go into individual items. The sum is about reducing costs and helping build liquidity. We need everything we can get from the help, says Schram.

Stein Nilsen, Director of Widerøe and Chairman of the Board of NHO Luftfart, was also present at the meeting.

– The most important thing is to extend the crisis measures that were taken in March, mainly tax and rate cuts. So it is the case that different companies have different needs. For the two biggest players (SAS and Norwegian, editor’s note), another form of compensation is important. For Widerøe, it is perhaps a little less important, says Nilsen.

It will ask for up to 14 billion.

Leader Torbjørn Lothe at NHO Luftfart said about the cash support before the meeting:

– We ask for help and we must have help that works. The airlines cannot get out of this crisis. The world has changed in recent months, the crisis has become widespread and seems to last longer than imagined before the summer.

For the meeting, NHO Luftfart and the airlines have an overview showing how many passengers are missing due to the crown crisis and what amounts to lost revenue.

• Airlines expect a loss of 23 million passengers this year, of which the three SAS players, Norwegian and Widerøe account for approximately 15 million passengers this year.
• The three companies alone expect a total of 27 million passengers to be lost due to the corona crisis this year and next.
• An income of approximately NOK 1,000 per year is assumed. ticket, and then lost revenue of 27 billion crowns this year and next.

Lothe says that companies ask for coverage for income that they cannot compensate for themselves by reducing costs over a period, and that is about half of the lost income.

– The international industry has concluded that airlines can handle approximately half of lost revenue by reducing costs. This means that for three companies with a domestic market in Norway, there is NOK 13-14 billion left, which it cannot compensate for itself. Here, the authorities must help the industry, says Lothe.

SAS Infrastructure Director Knut Hågensen says of the cash support:

– We cannot survive on loans alone. For us, it’s about finding solutions that create sustainable aviation for years to come.

In addition, the industry asks the authorities to continue with the temporary tax exemption, a scheme that actually lasts until the end of October this year. They talk about airfare, temporary lower VAT rate and reduced airport rate (security rate).

Trade and Industry Minister Nybø had no money to give to the industry before the meeting:

– Now we will listen to what the industry is asking for. That’s why we have the meeting and then we’ll come back, he said on the way to the meeting.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only be done with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.