While the second bankruptcy of Spirit Airlines (SAVE) and sudden shutdown of Silver Airways dominated the airline bankruptcy news space over the last year, a number of smaller airlines and travel companies have also struggled with finances to the point of having to shut down in 2025.
This week, Reykjavik-based low-cost carrier Play Airlines canceled all flights and told travelers to rebook with other airlines after multiple quarters of financial losses. Other carriers to shut down operations this year include Ravn Alaska, Air Belgium and SKS Airways in Malaysia. Larger names like WizzAir (WIZZ.L) and Qantas Airways (QABSY) shut down their branches in Abu Dhabi and Singapore, respectively.
The latest bankruptcy announcement has come from Swedish airline company Braathens Aviation. The parent company behind both the Braathens International Airways and Braathens Crew airlines, it launched in 2016 and both provided aircraft for the larger Scandinavian Airlines and operated independent flights between smaller cities in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
What is Braathens International Airways and why did it file for bankruptcy?
Back in August, the company announced plans to phase out its contracts to lease Airbus (EADSF) contracts and instead focus on expanding its fleet of ATR72-600 regional airliners.
Amid a fresh bankruptcy announcement, Braathens is immediately canceling all of the Airbus operations that it ran for chartered airlines such as Ving and Apollo. The sudden cancelations affected at least eight flights scheduled to take off from Scandinavian cities of Stockholm, Malmö, Goteborg, and Copenhagen on Sept. 30 and left thousands of travelers scrambling to find alternative transportation.
Related: Four-year-old budget airline cancels all flights, travelers left stranded
“It is with great regret that the Board this evening has been forced to file for bankruptcy for the Airbus operations,” Per G. Braathen, the chairman of the Braathens Aviation board and majority owner of Braathens, said in a statement. “The financing we tried to secure for a controlled phase-out unfortunately did not materialize, and I understand that those affected are saddened, shocked, and disappointed. We now have no other choice but to shift focus to the part of the business that can achieve long-term profitability.”
Had a flight canceled due to a sudden airline bankruptcy? These are your options
This is the second time Braathens has filed for bankruptcy; amid a long period of financial losses during the covid-19 pandemic, the airline company filed for Chapter 11 protection in October 2023.
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While the airline was able to restructure in a way that held it out for two more years, the bankruptcy announcement similarly left over 2,700 travelers at Stockholm Bromma Airport (BMA) stranded at the time.
Although the soundest bet in receiving a refund an airline bankruptcy is to go directly to one’s credit card or travel agency (passengers with disrupted travel are considered unsecured creditors very low on the repayment list), those needing immediate transportation are often left having to pay inflated prices on another airline amid a spike of others looking to do the same or in some cases wait for rescue flights.
“We are taking it flight by flight, day by day right now, in parallel with looking at long-term solutions for the winter,” the press officer for Apollo, one of the charter airlines for which Braathens ran flights, said in a press statement.
Related: Spirit Airlines to cancel all flights to two more US airports, refunds available
