FlyViking cease operations

The Board of FlyViking AS has decided to cease operations of the company. The last flights will take place on January 12, 2018, while the establishment of a new limited company will try to maintain the Ørland-Oslo-Ørland route. This will until further notice be done through the chartering of aircraft and personnel from other airlines.

“The main reason that we have come to this conclusion is that it is not economically viable to move on with the aircrafts we have today”, says Ola Olsen, Chairman of the Board. “A controlled close down of the company in a timely manner will also enable us to cease operations in FlyViking AS, while neither customers, suppliers, employees or contracted personnel are affected”, he continues.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this will cause for customers who have purchased tickets with the company after January 12th. All customers are welcome to contact the company, so they can get a refund of their purchase according to the terms of sale and passenger rights”, says CEO Heine Richardsen.

The decision to close operations is merely financial. But there are also several underlying reasons that have made it difficult to achieve profitability in the operation of FlyViking AS. “From the beginning we have had more technical challenges with the first three Dash 8-100 aircraft than expected. This has resulted in many cancellations and loss of customers, Richardsen says. “The fourth aircraft was planned to be put into operation in November, but a vital function was missing on the aircraft, thus making the aircraft unusable in short field operation. The aircraft could not be used as a reserve as intended, and the planned expansion of routes have been made impossible. This has caused too many cancellations of routes, and through that refunds to our passengers which had a direct negative financial effect”, Richardsen explains.

He adds that the possibility to book tickets with the company has been challenging for customers and especially businesses. “For example, we have not had the opportunity to distribute tickets through Amadeus GDS. This has meant that companies that use travel agencies for ticket orders have not been able to choose FlyViking. In addition, we see that the usability of our own system has been insufficient. This, in turn, made it challenging for customers to make orders through our own website. In hindsight’s exact light, we should probably have established better solutions for this from the start”, Richardsen says.

One last point that has also been challenging for the company's passengers, has been the experience at airports. “We have not delivered well enough at this point since we have not been able to offer self-service check-in as most other companies do today”, says Richardsen.

FlyViking AS is a fully owned subsidiary of Viking Air Norway AS, which is owned by individuals and their companies. It is the economy of FlyViking AS that does not appear to be profitable in the foreseeable future, and it is the operation of this company that ceases. Since its inception, the company's owners have injected share capital and loans totaling NOK 134 million, and the board decided to suspend operations now while there are still funds left to meet the obligations up to January 12, 2018.

At the same time, it was decided to create a new limited company, which will initially attempt to maintain the operation of the Ørland - Oslo - Ørland route. This will be achieved by transferring the routes to another regional airliner, commercially working together with the new limited company.

The owner will carry out an assessment of whether it will be possible to create profitable routes with other aircraft types than used by FlyViking, and in another market segment. This work will commence early in January 2018.

More information:

Heine Richardsen, CEO, phone +47 924 78 800

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

When does FlyViking stop flights?

Route network will be operated as normal up to and including January 12, 2018. After that, the aim is to continue operations of the route Ørland-Oslo-Ørland through another regional airline operator.

I have bought a ticket with FlyViking in the period before January 12th - what should I do?

We fly until January 12, so you do not have to do anything.

I have bought a ticket with FlyViking in the period after January 12th - what should I do?

On all routes other than Ørland - Oslo - Ørland, we refund your ticket in accordance with terms of sale and passenger rights. Click on the link below and send us a refund request to kundesenter@flyviking.no. We expect a processing time of two to three weeks on reimbursement claims.

https://flyviking.zendesk.com/hc/no/articles/115003502813-Sende-inn-krav-om-refusjon

How does FlyViking deal with agreements with other companies and suppliers?

Because of the board's decision to cease operations, all obligations will be kept tentatively.

What happens to the FlyViking aircraft?

The aircraft have been leased and this agreement will now cease. The aircraft will therefore be at disposal to the owner company.