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Iceland's Niceair has filed for Bankruptcy
Iceland's Niceair will be filing for bankruptcy after being unable to obtain a replacement aircraft for operations.
Simply Aviation
May 23, 2023
Dear Subscribers,
I can not express my appreciation for you reading this right now. This is my first post on my brand new newsletter which focuses on aviation. I hope you like my first post and thanks for reading!
Niceair's sole airplane: The Airbus A319-100
Contrary to the name, this airline isn't flying, nice, anymore. At least, it appears so after Niceair went bankrupt when losing access to it's sole aircraft less than a year after it's initial flight on May 30th, 2022.
Niceair loses access to it's sole aircraft
Niceair is a small airline designed to connect European cities like Copenhagen and Tenerife to Akureyri, a city in Northern Iceland. The airline operated based on a virtual airline model and used a single Airbus A319-100 that was operated by Hi Fly Malta. In early April, Hi Fly Malta wasn't able to keep up with payments for the aircraft and Niceair wasn't able to obtain a replacement aircraft.
Although the virtual airline worked hard to obtain a new aircraft, time ran out, hence the need to declare bankruptcy.
Statement from Niceair
Below is a statement from Niceair explaining and apologizing for having to file for bankruptcy.
“These were in every way uncontrollable reasons. This closure is particularly tragic as there were good grounds and experience had shown that there was a basis for direct international flights through Akureyri. We deeply regret the harm caused to the company’s customers, staff, suppliers, and others affected. All claims will go through the legal channels.
“After the company suffered major setbacks due to the non-compliance of its foreign partner HiFly, [...] there were no more flights operated by the company and the company had no income, so the conditions for a recently completed financing round were broken and it was not possible to recall the share capital pledge. The company laid off all employees at the end of April.”
Niceair tried to address Icelandic Challenges
For Iceland, until Niceair started flying direct flights, tourists wanting to see Northern Iceland would have to suffer through changing planes, going from Keflavik Airport, Reykjavik's (Capital of Iceland) international airport, to Reykjavik Airport, the city's domestic airport. The extra time created a market for direct Europe to North Iceland flights.
What is a Virtual Airline?
As we discussed before, Niceair is a virtual airline which means that it outsources flight operations. A virtual airline does not need to own their own aircraft and instead they obtain their aircraft by leasing or renting from another airline.
That is the end of my first post! Thanks for reading and I will see you next time!
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