Jet Time (2006) (Copenhagen Kastrup) has terminated more than 90% of its employees in Denmark, 313 out of 342 of them, including pilots, cabin crew, and mechanics, the Danish radio station DR reported, while also aiming to reduce its all-leased fleet.
The charter and ACMI specialist typically flew around 400,000 Danes, Finns, and Swedes per year, mainly to Mediterranean holiday destinations, for TUI Group and other tour operators. The collapse of this market with the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in lost revenues at Jet Time totalling around DKK800 million kroner (USD121 million) during its vital summer season.
Political parties in Denmark have been in the final stages of negotiations on an aviation support package totalling around DKK260 million (USD39 million), but this came too late for Jet Time. Among other things, this includes DKK135 million (USD20 million) to support domestic flights for three months and DKK90 million (USD14 million) for Danish airports to lower fees. It has also been possible for companies to participate in a wage compensation scheme during the crisis.
A further blow came in early June, when Air Greenland (GL, Nuuk) cancelled this summer's flights between Copenhagen Kastrup and Narsarsuaq, which Jet Time had been operating as a wet lease.
“It is obviously a very sad day for all of us in the Jet Time family - the worst day without comparison in our 15-year history,” CEO Jørgen Holme told DR on June 25. “Despite the government's short-term relief packages, it is not enough to help us through this protracted crisis. The prospect of a specific long-term package of assistance to Danish airlines, including charter airlines such as Jet Time, has not yet arrived, so we must act.”
The company also operated ad-hoc ACMI flights for struggling SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian, plus VIP charters for clients including VW, Mercedes-Benz, and Scandinavian football teams.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows that its fleet is comprised of three B737-700s, one of which was operated by subsidiary Jet Time Finland (Helsinki Vantaa), and six B737-800s. The company's 57 employees in Finland have also been disbanded, DR reported. According to the travel news site Check-in, Jet Time plans to return some of the aircraft to lessors and later resume operations with a smaller fleet, at the earliest after four months, for the coming winter season.