Estonia: Nordic Aviation Group files for bankruptcy

Estonia’s state-owned Nordic Aviation Group (NAG) has filed bankruptcy applications for the Nordica and Regional Jet (Xfly) airlines, ERR reports. NAG decided to file for bankruptcy after Danish entrepreneur Lars Thuesen, minority shareholder of Latvia’s national air carrier, airBaltic, announced that he would not acquire Nordica due to the high business risks involved. Earlier, Nordic flag carrier Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) terminated its cooperation with NAG. Nordica stopped its flights in 2019. Former CEO Erki Urva said that the company faltered due to rapid expansion. He noted that continuing scheduled flights became pointless after airBaltic began offering cheap flights from Tallinn. Estonia’s Infrastructure Minister, Vladimir Svet, stated that it was time for Estonia to abandon the illusion of having a national air carrier. The state should focus on developing Tallinn Airport instead, he said.