Breakingviews - Capital Calls: Norwegian Air’s founder has another go

  • 4/14/2021
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(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are their own.) LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - BJORN AGAIN. Norwegian Air Shuttle founder Bjorn Kjos is nothing if not determined. Only four months after the transatlantic budget carrier he once led slid into bankruptcy, Kjos is back at a new set of controls. Norse Atlantic, which promises a remarkably similar low-cost, long-haul offering as his previous dreamchild, listed on the Oslo stock market this week with a $185 million market value. Kjos and fellow Norwegian pioneer Bjorn Kise are both investors. Passengers hoping for cheap flights between Europe and the United States probably have more cause for celebration than shareholders. Norwegian made a major dent in the lucrative transatlantic market dominated by U.S. carriers and International Airlines Group-owned British Airways. At one point, it was the biggest non-U.S. airline serving the New York area. But its debt-fuelled ascent failed to level off financially and it collapsed after losing money every year since 2017. At least Kjos’s fellow shareholders know what can go wrong. (By Ed Cropley)

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