Budget Airline Goes Bankrupt, Cancels Newark Airport Flights

NEWARK, NJ — A budget airline company operating out of Newark Liberty International Airport ended its service at the facility after declaring bankruptcy earlier this week.

Danish airline Primera Air suspended its service at Newark Airport, ceasing operations on Monday. All Primera flights in and out of Newark were canceled, including flights to Paris and London, Port Authority officials said.

The abrupt suspension reportedly left thousands of travelers in the U.S. and overseas stranded, including some of the airline’s crew members.

Primera canceled seven flights between the United States and Europe scheduled for Monday, USA Today reported. Those flights included: London Stansted-Washington Dulles and Washington Dulles to London; Paris to Toronto and Newark Liberty; London Stansted to Newark Liberty; and Toronto and Newark Liberty to Paris.

Customer service representatives were available at Newark Airport to assist customers who faced travel issues, authorities said.

At least one airline – Norwegian – offered stranded international passengers a Plan B to get home, announcing a 50 percent “repatriation” discount on its standard economy fare for travel until Oct. 14 (subject to availability).

Primera, which began as a charter provider in 2003, called the bankruptcy an “enormous disappointment.” The airline started offering low-cost flights from Stansted and Birmingham to North America - including Washington, Newark, and Toronto - earlier this year, BBC News reported.

According to a statement from the company:

“This is a sad day for all the employees and passengers of Primera Air. The company has been working relentlessly during the last months to secure the long-term financing of the airline. Not being able to reach an agreement with our bank for a bridge financing, we had no other choice than filing for bankruptcy.”

Primera stated:

“During the last two years, several unforeseen misfortunate events severely affected the financial standing of Primera Air. In 2017, the company lost one aircraft from operations due to severe corrosion problems and had to bear the total cost of rebuilding, resulted in a loss of more than 10 million euros. 2018 began with a fantastic start of our low-cost long-haul project with a brand-new Airbus 321neo fleet, however, due to severe delays of aircraft deliveries this beginning ended up being rocky and incredibly problematic: operational issues, cancelations of number of flights, loss of revenues are just a few to mention. In addition, to fulfill our obligations in front of passengers, Primera Air leased in aircraft and beared additional costs of over 20 million euros.”

The company continued:

“Weighting the potential losses due to future delivery delays, and the added exposure to our partners and lessors, and bearing in mind the difficult environment that airlines are facing now due to low prices and high fuel costs, we have decided to cease operations now, where it will have a smaller effect on our clients, due to the timing of the year, rather than increasing the exposure. Without additional financing, we do not see any possibility to continue our operations.”

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Photo: YouTube / Primera Air