Flyr (Norway) (Oslo Gardermoen) is aiming to temporarily cut its operating costs by 50% over the upcoming Northern Hemisphere winter and wants to reduce its cash burn over the period by approximately NOK400 million kroner (USD38 million).
In an October 5 Oslo Stock Exchange filing, CEO Tonje Wikstrøm Frislid said the airline was facing a "demanding" winter where consumer spending is expected to drop amid rising interest rates, inflation, and energy costs. "This is hard-hitting to the airline industry, and to Flyr as a company, and will result in reduced demand for air travel," she said.
The outcome is that the number of routes Flyr will operate this winter will reduce. Further, an unspecified number of employees will be furloughed for an unspecified period of time. The airline will retain sufficient workers to operate five to six aircraft over the winter. The ch-aviation fleets module indicates that the carrier operates six B737-800s and six B737-8s.
"Our decision to make use of furloughs is based on thorough assessments and in dialogue with union representatives. Employees may be furloughed full-time or part-time in several stages, depending on how the situation develops. The company aims to put in place voluntary arrangements to reduce the extent of furloughs," the filing said.
Flyr's route changes see domestic services in Norway heavily reduced, with a focus on flying to destinations further south in Europe over the winter. Within Norway, Flyr will maintain services on the Oslo Gardermoen-Trondheim and Oslo-Bergen routes. Flights between Oslo and Stavanger, Kristiansund, Bodø, Harstad/Narvik, and Tromsø will be paused between November and March. However, Bodø, Evenes, and Tromsø will have a small number of flights over the Christmas and New Year period. The airline will continue to operate flights to Alicante, Malaga, Bergen, Barcelona El Prat, Milan Malpensa, Brussels National, Rome Fiumicino, Geneva, Nice, and Salzburg.
Flyr's decision to cut services over the winter follows similar temporarily cutbacks already announced by Norse Atlantic Airways (N0, Oslo Gardermoen) and Widerøe (WF, Bodø).
Flyr said it expects to be back in "full force" by next summer, and it added that it would evaluate demand on an ongoing basis and maintain the ability to ramp up at short notice. It also confirmed it had engaged financial advisers Arctic Securities AS, Carnegie AS and Sparebank 1 Markets to talk to would-be investors about a range of potential financial instruments to strengthen its financial position.
