After a three-month extension, the airline BRA's restructuring has now been approved by a court, partly after SAS agreed to renegotiate its contract and provide a loan. However, approval was a long time coming, as the Swedish Tax Agency opposed the process.

The background to BRA's problems is a turbulent autumn in which Braathens' charter company went bankrupt. bankruptcy – a company that was a subcontractor to charter giants such as Ving. When the leasing companies, which own the aircraft, demanded compensation from the parent company, the bankruptcy spread to the entire BRA group, which was forced to begin a reconstruction.

After BRA failed to come up with a plan that could be accepted by creditors, the deadline was extended by three months in January. This week, the plan was finally approved by Solna District Court, meaning that BRA is now entering its third restructuring in five years.

BRA is 81 percent owned by Norwegian financier Per G. Braathen, through the investment company Braganza. He has pointed out on several occasions the Swedish aviation scandal as the cause to the severe loss of domestic flights. Now he is injecting 100 million SEK in new capital into BRA. In addition, 95 percent of the company's total debt of 960 million SEK is being written off.

Since January 2025, BRA has been a full-fledged subcontractor to SAS. Under a seven-year contract, BRA operates several domestic routes for the airline giant, which together account for around 40 percent of SAS's total domestic traffic.

SAS will now be a key player in the reconstruction. The airline has agreed to renegotiate the agreement, which will improve BRA's annual results by an estimated SEK 100 million. At the same time, SAS has provided financial support through a loan of approximately SEK 50 million.

According to documents from the district court, most creditors supported a reconstruction. With the exception of the Swedish Tax Agency. The Swedish Tax Agency, which has SEK 180 million in claims, questioned the realism of BRA's plans to achieve profitability. The agency also pointed out that the requirements must be set particularly high, since BRA is now in its third reconstruction process in five years. On previous occasions, debts to the Swedish state of around SEK 488 million have been written down. Despite the opposition, the court chose to confirm the plans through a so-called "cram-down", where a reconstruction can be carried out without full support from all creditor groups.

For all plans to be put into effect, BRA must first regain a permanent operational flight permit, as it was revoked on November 14 last year. A temporary permit is valid until April 30, 2026.

Source: DI.SE