Niceair suspends operations

Icelandic carrier Niceair has been abruptly forced to suspend its operations as its from HiFly wet-leased Airbus A319 9H-XFW (3689) was reposessed by lessor Avolon at Copenhagen on 30 March 2023. The aircraft was scheduled to fly its return flight to Akureyri but was instead ferried to Knock in Ireland for storage.

With the summer season in progress, securing new wet-lease capacity has been proven nearly impossible, forcing Niceair to suspend all flights until further notice. Speaking to various Icelandic media, the CEO of Niceair said HiFly was to blame because of its unpaid debt to Avolon but HiFly said the payments weren't made because Niceair wasn't paying.

Niceair was founded in February 2022 and launched flights in June 2022. It connected Akureyri with Copenhagen and also briefly served London-Stansted and seasonal flights to Tenerife-South.

Photo by Anton Homma.