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Nov 07, 2023 (newstodate): Estonia's troubled aviation Group Nordica and its companies is heading towards the end of the line.
   -The government will not allocate additional funding for the struggling airline Nordica and is pushing for privatization or closure, Minister of Climate Kristen Michal told the Estonian media ERR.
   -It is appropriate to underline that the situation of Nordica is very difficult. It is already common knowledge that Nordica's expansion plans, made in the past, led to the company's decline. The board is trying to get the damage under control on an ongoing basis, their indication to us today is that the situation has been better in September, on balance, however, it is still very complicated, the minister said last week.
   Nordica was established in 2015 to secure air connectivity for Estonia by a network left void after the bankruptcy of the country's earlier national carrier, Estonian Air.
   This proved futile, however, and Nordica and its capacity provider Xfly instead turned to wet-lease and ACMI business contributing nothing to the country's air connectivity.
   The National Audit Office recommends that after the results of its special audit of Nordica have been released and the company's economic activities have been stabilized, the Estonian government must sell its stake in the airline either by privatizing Nordica and Transpordi Varahaldus together or separately.
   To restructure the company's business, the Board in September 2023 contracted the international aviation consultancy Knighthood Global for a period of up to six months, during which all operations and cost structure of the company will be revised.
   On July 26, 2023, the Board appointed Remco Althuis, the lead of the turnaround consultancy team, as the company's new interim CEO after the demise of Jan Palmer, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board since 2018.    
   Headquartered in Tallinn, the group operates flights under two brands, two IOSA-certified AOC’s - XFLY operating nine ATR72-600 and nine CRJ900 and Nordica operating four A320 aircraft.       
   Xfly and Nordica operate within the framework of long-term ACMI partnerships with SAS, TAP and MARABU and for the summer 2023 with Cyprus Airways.