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Copenhagen – Aarhus seaplane kept aloft by temporary permit

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Copenhagen – Aarhus seaplane kept aloft by temporary permit
File photo: Jens Nørgaard Larsen/Scanpix 2016

A temporary permit has been issued enabling the Nordic Seaplanes service between harbours in Copenhagen and Aarhus to continue operations until March 2020.

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The company had faced closure after failing to secure the necessary permit from Copenhagen Municipality.

Industry media check-in.dk first reported that Nordic Seaplanes had secured the extension.

“This decision means that we can continue flying in 2019 at the same frequency as now. Jobs have been saved for the time being, and that is great,” the company’s CEO Lasse Rungholm wrote in a press statement.

“But, of course, we cannot justify a 30 million kroner investment in the extra aircraft we so desperately need to improve our service to our many passengers,” Rungholm added.

Nordic Seaplanes has operated on a three-year permit that was set to expire in March 2019. An application for a permanent license, submitted in 2017, was rejected.

The rejected application sought to significantly increase the extent of the service, with more frequent departures and a raised limit on noise levels.

According to authorities, the application lacked necessary information. Additionally, a complaint was lodged by the Langelinie Pavilion in Copenhagen.

Nordic Seaplanes appealed the decision to the Ministry of the Environment and Food's appeals board, but the company looked likely to close, with 20 jobs thereby lost. But reprieve was granted in the form of the extension, which enables operations to continue while the appeal is assessed.

“The appeals board has been required to move to Viborg [from Copenhagen, ed.]. 80 percent of their employees have resigned because they didn't want to move with them, so they are well behind schedule. The case is not currently progressing,” Rungsted told Jyllands-Posten in September.

“We don’t know for certain when a final decision will be granted, but we will have to live with that uncertainty,” he told Ritzau on Monday.

READ ALSO: Aarhus-Copenhagen seaplane threatened by authorisation issue

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