Covid-19, EU – Baltic States, Lithuania, Tourism, Transport

This compares to a net profit of 1.3 million euros and revenue of 139.6 million euros for the same period of 2019. 

The company blamed the loss on quarantine restrictions and border closures in the spring and the fast-changing situation later in the year.    

"As a result of constantly changing morbidity rate calculation rules and different state regulations in all the Baltic countries, the company could not resume flights to most of its holiday destinations," it said in a stock exchange release on Wednesday. "Because of these reasons, this year the Novaturas Group could only offer holidays in a few countries – Greece, Tunisia and Cyprus." 

The operator said it had managed to optimize its costs throughout the crisis, cutting its operating expenses for the three quarters of 2020 by 61 percent in year-on-year terms.

The Novaturas Group has obtained long-term loans of 1 million euros in Latvia and of 5 million euros in Lithuania, as well as government subsidies of 60,000 euros in Estonia and of 81,000 euros in Latvia.

The group has also received 167,000 euros in compensation for repatriation costs in Latvia, and has made use of 233,000 euros in compensation for wage costs in all three markets. 

Novaturas received requests for refunds for cancelled trips worth about 8 million euros and has already refunded 5.5 million euros, according to the statement.