Norwegian Air proposed today to convert debt to equity, offload planes and sell new shares in an attempt to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought the company to its knees, Reuters reported. As part of the plan, the Oslo-based carrier, which recently applied for bankruptcy protection in an Irish court, aims to raise up to 4 billion Norwegian crowns ($455.4 million) from the sale of new shares or hybrid instruments, it said. “The company asks for the continued support of its shareholders to prepare for future capital increases in parallel with the restructuring of its balance sheet,” Norwegian said in a statement. It will also seek to only pay lessors for the use of the aircraft when they are actually in use, by the hour, until 2022. Before the pandemic, Norwegian helped transform transatlantic travel, expanding the European budget airline business model to longer-haul destinations, but also ran up losses each year from 2017 to 2019. By cutting its fleet and reducing its debt load, Norwegian believes it can make itself attractive to new shareholders and potentially attract financial support from Norway’s government, which has so far rejected calls for more aid.
