Niceair was a virtual airline headquartered in

Akureyri Akureyri (, locally ) is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's fifth-largest municipality, after Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær and Kópavogur, and the largest town outside Iceland's more populated southwest corner. Nicknamed ...

in northern

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, with operations based at

Akureyri Airport Akureyri Airport ( is, Akureyrarflugvöllur , regionally also ) is a single-runway international airport in Akureyri, Iceland, south of the town centre. Icelandair and Norlandair link the airport with several domestic locations. History Schedule ...

. The company launched services on 2 June 2022, using a leased

Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a ...

. It was forced to suspend all operations and later declared

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

in May 2023.

History

In February 2022, Niceair was announced as a virtual airline with the intention of bringing tourists to northern Iceland from other parts of Europe, with services planned to launch on 2 June 2022, using a fleet consisting of a single

. The company was launched with financial backing from various investors including

Samherji Samherji hf. is a fishing and fish processing company in Iceland. It is the largest fishing company in Iceland, and one of the largest in Europe. It was founded in Grindavík in 1972. Its current headquarters are in Akureyri, but the company ope ...

and

Norlandair Norlandair is an Icelandic airline. It was founded on 1 June 2008 when it acquired the Twin Otter flight operation of Air Iceland. History The company traces its roots to a company with the same name, Norlandair, that was founded in 1974. That co ...

. The company additionally had no immediate plans to acquire its own

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...

, instead planning for its flights to be operated by a separate charter airline. During March 2022, the operating airline was revealed to be

Hi Fly Malta Hi Fly Malta is a Malta, Maltese charter airline based at Malta International Airport and a subsidiary of the Portugal, Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly (airline), Hi Fly. History Hi Fly Malta started operations in early 2013 with one Airbus A ...

, and Niceair subsequently began ticket sales for flights. Following the launch of its first service to

London-Stansted London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acros ...

on 3 June 2022, the company found it was not allowed to transport passengers on its first return flight from London back to Akureyri, as an air services treaty between Iceland and the United Kingdom that came into effect as part of

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

did not allow for

to operate scheduled services between the two countries on behalf of Niceair. The company subsequently suspended its London Stansted services for at least the remainder of the month. Though since, services have not been resumed. This also led to the circumstance that the planned flights to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

did not proceed in October 2022 as previously planned. In March 2023, Niceair called off its proposed service to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

from May 2023, planning to inaugurate it in 2024 instead.nord.news - "Niceair cancels scheduled flights to Düsseldorf"
(German) 16 March 2023 The airline has suspended operations as of 7 April 2023 after their sole aircraft, operated by

, was detained by its lessor. Niceair stated a lack of available alternative aicraft as a reason for the forced suspension of all operations.icelandreview.com - "Niceair cancels all flights"
(German) 6 April 2023 In May 2023, Niceair laid off all remaining staff and announced it would not resume operations in 2023.aerotelegraph.com - "Niceair lays off all staff - No restart soon"
2 May 2023 A few weeks later, the airline filed for

and closed down.airliners.de - "New icelandic Niceair is insolvent"
(German) 22 May 2023

Destinations

, Niceair has offered or planned scheduled services to the following destinations:

Fleet

, Niceair had chartered the following aircraft under its brand:

References

External links

Official website
{{Airlines of Iceland Defunct airlines of Iceland Airlines established in 2022 Airlines disestablished in 2023 2022 establishments in Iceland Icelandic brands

History

Destinations

Fleet

See also

References

External links