Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
In April 2020, the low-cost airline Norwegian sent a notification of dismissal to all of its 400 cabin crews in Sweden, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The employees who lost their job were mainly based in Arlanda airport in Stockholm. The internal restructuring has been provoked by the significant impact of the health crisis on Norwegians profitability, entailing also that all domestic flights operated by Norwegian in Sweden were suspended in March 2020.
The company experimented financial problems also before the COVID-19 crisis and in May 2020 Norwegian was reported being close to filing bankruptcy before the shareholders accepted a saving plan. Furthermore, in April 2020, four of the subsidiaries of the Norwegian Group filed bankruptcy in Sweden and Denmark. The company ended its contracts also with two staffing agencies, OSM Aviation and Rishworth.
Norwegian is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe and Norway's largest airline. In terms of passenger numbers, it has been ranked, in 2013, as the ninth-largest airline in Europe.
Eurofound (2020), Norwegian, Internal restructuring in Sweden, factsheet number 100353, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/100353.