Nextjet faces serious economic turbulence

Nextjet, the company that operates the only east-west route across the skies of northern Scandinavia, is loosing money on operations.

The company’s accountant is not convinced about how Nextjet possible can survive.

«There are significant uncertainties that can lead to significant doubts about the company’s ability to continue its business,» the accountant writes in the annual report, SVT Västerbotten informs.

The flights between the three largest cities in northern Scandinavia is branded Arctic Airlink and is financially supported by public cash from Troms County in cooperation with chamber of commerce and Business Oulu. Despite being highly profiled by politicians in the counties of Troms, Norrbotten and Oulu region, the route hasn’t been the big success originally suggested.

Earlier this year, the Barents Observer could report about half empty planes on the route. Now, Nextjet’s collaboration Arctic Airlink has reduced the number of flights from five times a week to three flights between Luleå, Oulu and Tromsø.

Nextjet reported a loss of 18 million Swedish kroner (€1,88 million) for 2016. 

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Press spokesman Henning Lindberg says the hope is to make good business. He tells SVT Västerbotten that the company gets fresh cash and plans for new aircrafts.

In addition to cross-border flights between northern Sweden to Norway and Finland, Nextjet operates a number of routes from smaller airports in northern Sweden to Stockholm, Sundsvall and Gothenburg.