LARA editor Mark Thomas summarises the latest happenings across the low-fare and regional aviation industry.
The life of a smaller regional carrier is a hard one, and the current experiences of two such airlines are a good example.
Down Under, Queensland-based JetGo – which started flying Embraer 135 and 145s initially as a charter service before establishing longer regional public transport services in 2015 using the jets – found economic life too tough and went into voluntary liquidation on 1 June.
It’s fleet of six E-Jets remain grounded and regional communities stranded while administrators try to find a solution, although it is battling on with some limited charter operations.
Things look pretty dire, but there’s always hope that a ‘White Knight’ will step in, as has been the case in the opposite hemisphere. Sweden’s NextJet, which suspended operations and filed for bankruptcy in mid-May, looks set to resume some flights as soon as next week after being acquired by Norway’s Olsen Group.
Northern Europe’s regional aviation sector is a tough nut to crack, especially in the harsh operating conditions of much of Scandinavia at certain times of the year, and the economic demands of operating public service obligation routes are equally harsh.
But the carrier, expected to be rebranded as Air Scandic, now has a second chance with apparently sufficient funds available from its new Norwegian parent company once it regains an Air Operator’s Certificate.
The similar experiences of these two small regional airlines on either side of the world demonstrate that servicing such thin routes can mean operating on a financial knife-edge, and that – large or small – carriers must exercise cost-efficiency in every area if they are to stand any chance of enduring the current high oil price environment.
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