Finnair cargo airline NGA’s operations will discontinue

The Board of Directors of Finnair’s associated company Nordic Global Airlines (NGA) has decided to discontinue NGA’s operations by 31.05.2015. The termination of the operations has no material impact on Finnair’s cargo business, or Finnair’s financial position. NGA, focused on cargo freighter operations, was founded in 2011. Since then NGA grew to fly main-deck cargo in four continents with its low-cost and thin-organization model, but with overcapacity in the sector and depressed freight pricing, the cargo airline’s decision to cease operations was unavoidable. Finnair Cargo Oy owns 40% of the company, and other shareholders are Neff Capital Management, Daken Capital Partners and the Mutual Pension Insurance Company Ilmarinen. Between 2011 and 2014, Finnair leased freighter capacity from NGA for its mainly Asian cargo traffic. Finnair’s belly cargo capacity will increase significantly in the coming years, when new A350 aircraft join Finnair’s fleet. Finnair has decided to focus in future on cargo carried in the cargo holds of passenger aircraft and discontinued separate cargo freighter operations at the end of 2014.