BRA - Braathens Regional Airlines (Stockholm Arlanda) and its subsidiary BRA - Braathens Regional Airways have entered financial restructuring, a process under Swedish law resembling the United States' Chapter 11, to "safeguard" the future of its ATR - Avions de Transport Régional operations after the company filed for the bankruptcy of its Airbus-operating entities a week earlier. The companies secured the approval from Solna District Court, the company announced on October 10.
The Swedish airline aims to reduce operating costs by renegotiating existing agreements with clients and streamline its turboprop operations.
"The goal of the process is to address the transition costs incurred as Braathens shifts to operating solely as an ACMI supplier," the company said in its press release. Braathens Regional Airlines noted that the restructuring will not have impact on operations for its two current ACMI customers, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Austrian Airlines.
"As a consequence of Braathens International Airways’ bankruptcy, there will be redundancies within Braathens Regional Airways. The process is in its planning phase, and no notice has been communicated. We will provide further information as soon as a decision has been made and the process with the relevant unions is initiated," the company told ch-aviation. It also confirmed that it has no plans to scale down its fleet.
The airline stated that it will disclose more details on its restructuring plan "in the coming weeks."
The development comes only a week after two other subsidiaries, Braathens International Airways and Braathens Crew AB, filed for bankruptcy in a Stockholm court, marking the end of the company's Airbus operations. Braathens Regional Airlines continues to see its turboprop operations as viable on the ACMI market.
Braathens Regional Airways currently operates seventeen ATR72-600s which are, on average, 8.1 years old. Four ATR72s are wet-leased to Austrian Airlines, and the remainder operates for SAS, ch-aviation data shows.
