Europe’s startup airlines face a long winter

Winter has long been a low season for air travel in Europe with the seasonal fluctuation from peak summer months greater than in many other global markets, including the US. This winter is proving no different, but the added challenges of high inflation and energy costs is weighing on some airlines, particularly the startups that launched during the pandemic. Flyr, a Norway-based startup that took off in June 2021, said Tuesday that it would cut its winter schedule drastically. Instead of flying a planned 12 aircraft, the airline will operate just five or six and suspend flights to all but a few key markets — including Alicante, Barcelona, Paris, and Rome — of the 27 destinations it served in September. The cuts, plus involuntary staff furloughs, aim to reduce expenses by half this winter and minimize cash burn to 400m Norwegian kroner ($38m). On top of the macroeconomic issues, Flyr CEO Tonje Wikstrøm Frislid said competition with legacy carriers, an age old challenge for any startup, was also challenging. “It has taken longer than expected to build loyalty among business travelers on domestic routes in Norway, where the incumbent carriers maintain large market shares,” he said. Another Norway-based startup, Norse Atlantic Airways, is not doing much better. The carrier will suspend its flights to Los Angeles from Berlin and Oslo for the winter — routes previously planned to be flown year round — in what amounts to a 28 percent cut to planned capacity for the November-through-March period, according to Diio by Cirium schedules. “The winter season is historically more challenging for the industry and this year faces the additional burden of high fuel prices, increasing inflation in the markets that we operate and uncertainty in overall demand,” a Norse spokesperson said. “We have taken action to trim certain frequencies from Oslo and Berlin to the U.S…. The routes that we will continue to operate throughout the winter schedule are in strong demand.”<br/>