Airline Name
Color AirIATA: CL / ICAO: CLA / Callsign: PENNANT
Country of Origin
Norway
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
B733 (737-300) (3 operated),
Why should this airline be added?
Founded in 1998 in Oslo as the first Low Cost Carrier for the country after deregulation, to compete with Braathens and SAS. It was a subsidiary of Color Line which is a Norwegian shipping company and was able to operate from the newly opened Gardermoen Airport due to Oslo Airport, Fornebu, not having enough slots available to compete.The airline’s establishment led to a mad dash from SAS and Braathens to open up many new routes due to the increase in slots available, some of which were opened purely to compete with another with some routes having very low numbers of seat utilisation such as the routes from Oslo to Ålesund and Kristiansand; to Ålesund there were 1.2 million flown seats annually between the three airlines, but only 345,000 passengers, combined with a price war with the 2 incumbents against Color Air, leading to all 3 repeatedly cutting their prices on routes. This had led to a 20% increase in capacity on both Braathens and SAS routes, but only around a 5% uptick in profits from said tickets. Due to the price gouging, Color Air found itself losing NOK 1 million a day in the last quarter of 1998 with an average cabin utilisation of 32%. Color Air had operating costs of NOK 209 million of which their revenue intake was just NOK 57 million, of which NOK 45 million was spent in taxes, leaving just NOK 12 million to cover the 209 million operating costs.
In the first quarter of 1999, Color Air transported 100,472 passengers. This gave a cabin load of 35%, of which the Trondheim route had 40% and the Ålesund route 32%. This gave the airline a deficit of NOK 92 million. SAS lost NOK 22 million, while Braathens had lost NOK 300 million. In comparison, both Braathens and SAS Norway made a NOK 320 million profit in the first quarter of 1998. It really showed just how much money was being lost due to this price war.
In February 1999, Braathens announced they were to re-register their aircraft in Sweden so as to not have to pay VAT on fuel and catering on their planes, as both SAS and Color Air had their aircraft registered abroad, Denmark/Sweden and the UK respectively, so as to not have to pay the taxes due to it only being applied to Norwegian registered aircraft. However, once this was announced, the Norwegian Government updated the law so foreign owned planes also had to pay the tax, with Color Air now having to pay an extra NOK 10 million per plane per year. The Seat Tax, however, was removed and thus Color Air and the other airlines increased the amount of seat onboard.
This price war and the financial implications of it, led to Color Air collapsing in September 1999 and also led to Braathens being sold to SAS Group in 2001 after record losses in 1999 with both Braathens and SAS losing more than 1 billion NOK, totalling the cost of the price war between the three airlines to exceed NOK 3 billion. Braathens and SAS both cut their routes after Color Air’s demise and rose prices by 20% but it was too little for Braathens to recover from, whereas SAS had their Danish and Swedish operations able to keep it afloat.
It would be a great addition to the game, only being a single livery for a single type, but representing an airline that had a lot to do with Norwegian aviation history, even if for a short time. Plus, the livery is quite the snazzy one and would add a good dash of colour to players airports.