[marvin]

While I agree with your point in general, Norwegian is done. They've got a heavy debt burden that's due soon. They will either go bankrupt and be restructured, or have to do a wipeout-level stock offering (unlikely in the current risk climate).

[axlee]

Can't Norway bail them out? It's not like they lack the capital, and they're the country largest airline.

[marvin]

Let's see what happens. But Norwegian privately owned, so if the state does bail them out, I sure as hell hope they wipe out the common shareholders in the process. This culture of moral hazard, "privatize the profit, nationalize the risk", is pure bullshit.

I probably agree with providing liquidity in the form of some sort of short-term loan in order to live through a completely unexpected macro crisis, if it's done on equal terms to everyone. But Norwegian won't survive that either, I think.

[ShinTakuya]

Yes, this! I wouldn't be happy as a shareholder if this happened but if the last resort for a company is a government bailout the government should own the company and benefit from the recovery.

[ucarion]

This is not to contradict what you're saying, but it should be clarified that Norway's flag carrier is Scandinavian Airlines, not Norwegian Air:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Airlines

Again: I'm aware that you haven't said anything to the contrary. But it's useful context.

[michaeljohansen]

Well. We Norwegians joke that SAS stands for "svensk alt sammen" (Swedish all together). Some of us consider Norwegian Air Shuttle to be more of a Norwegian airline.

And yes, a bailout is likely. The govt will likely help keep Norwegian Air's planes flying during the Coronavirus period. Additional help is possible.

[hnarn]

Looking only at state ownership, the Swedish and Danish governments own about the same share of SAS (~14%) and 1/3rd of the company stock is privately owned.[1]

[1]: https://www.sasgroup.net/annualreports/2018/assets/pdf/eng/S...

[Jhsto]

Meanwhile, the Finnish government owns 55.8% of Finnair.

[gerikson]

SAS is furloughing 10K employees.

[reaperducer]

Can't Norway bail them out? It's not like they lack the capital, and they're the country largest airline.

Italy just did so for Alitalia.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-alitalia-idUSKBN212...

[brianbreslin]

I think they are norwegian in name only. Their headquarters is london.

[nkristoffersen]

Wikipedia states the headquarters is in Fornebu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Air_Shuttle

[marcosdumay]

Why would a country ever bail out a private company? (Except for corruption of course.)

They can always estatise it, but I don't imagine an airliner is strategic enough for that.

[oat_bravo_nap]

Relevant portion from article:

> Having lost money each year from 2017 to 2019 and raised cash from shareholders on three occasions, the company’s debts and liabilities had grown to 82 billion Norwegian crowns ($7.9 billion) by the end of last year.

[chatmasta]

If that’s true, it’s too bad. Norwegian is my favorite airline for trans-Atlantic flights because of great service and reasonable prices.

[mceachen]

Their stock has been hit hard since Feb (trading at 42) to currently trading at 7.

[marvin]

They're down from an all-time high of 200, so they're considered pretty much toast.

[dirtydroog]

Yup, Norwegian Air is about to go bust.