Flyr

Some airlines accompany spotters for decades, others disappear so quickly that you almost miss them. Flyr clearly belongs to the second kind: Founded in Oslo in the middle of the Covid crisis, the Norwegian low-cost airline flew green-and-white Boeing 737s through Scandinavia and to southern Europe from summer 2021 – and by early February 2023 it was already history. This page sums up what Flyr was, how you could recognize its aircraft and what became of them.

Flyr at a glance

Flyr was a Norwegian low-cost airline headquartered in Oslo with its base at Oslo Gardermoen Airport. The name is simply Norwegian and means roughly “flies.” The company was founded on August 14, 2020 – at a time when air traffic in Europe had all but come to a standstill because of the pandemic and Norwegian was fighting for survival.

Flyr was backed by experienced people from Scandinavian aviation. The founder and chairman was Erik G. Braathen, who had once led Braathens SAFE, for decades Norway’s most important private airline. Later he spent several years on the board of Norwegian. The first CEO was Tonje Wikstrøm Frislid, and Brede Huser ran the airline at the end. Several members of the team came from Norwegian’s circle.

The idea was simple: Norwegian shrank sharply in the crisis and temporarily retreated to domestic routes. Flyr wanted to exploit the gap in the Norwegian market – with cheaply leased aircraft, a lean organization and a network from Oslo to the country’s big cities and to popular vacation destinations in Europe.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code FS: appeared in the flight number, on departure boards and on boarding passes. The first international flight to Málaga, for example, operated as FS1206.
• ICAO code FOX: appeared in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers. The very first scheduled flight from Oslo to Tromsø showed up there as FOX408.
• Callsign GREENSTAR: this is how the crews identified themselves on the radio – a nod to the green house color.

How IATA and ICAO codes relate and why they often don’t match is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes. Flyr is a nice example: FOX has nothing to do with the airline’s name, and you also have to know the callsign GREENSTAR to understand who is currently on approach when you listen to the radio.

The short history of Flyr

2020: founded in a crisis

Flyr was founded in August 2020. In early 2021, the airline presented its plans publicly: a start with a few used Boeing 737-800s and, in the long run, up to 30 aircraft depending on market conditions. At the start, the company raised around 60 million euros from private investors so that the first months were funded even without large revenues. The stock was later traded on the Oslo exchange.

One detail stood out at the time: Tickets were to be sold only through the airline’s own app and website. Flyr wanted to tailor offers and prices to passengers digitally and largely skip traditional sales channels.

2021: certification and first flight

In spring 2021, the first 737 in Flyr colors appeared, even before the airline was allowed to fly at all. In June 2021, LN-FGA arrived in Oslo, and on June 16 the air operator certificate (AOC) from the Norwegian aviation authority Luftfartstilsynet followed. In April 2021, Flyr had only 45 employees, and the plan was to reach around 350 by the end of the year.

On June 30, 2021, the first scheduled flight took off: FOX408 from Oslo Gardermoen to Tromsø, flown by LN-FGA. The very next day, the second aircraft, LN-FGB, was operating the route to Harstad/Narvik. The domestic network initially consisted of Tromsø, Bodø and Harstad/Narvik, and Trondheim and Bergen were added from mid-August.

On August 21, 2021, the step abroad followed: Flight FS1206 took LN-FGA from Oslo to Málaga, and on the same day LN-FGB also flew to Nice. With Alicante, another classic Scandinavian sun destination was in the program from the start.

2022: growth and the first cracks

In 2022, Flyr grew significantly. In addition to more 737-800s, Boeing 737 MAX 8s joined the fleet before the end of the year. At times the network stretched from Edinburgh to Athens and from Gran Canaria to Stockholm. It included cities such as Paris, Rome, Berlin, Brussels, Prague and Copenhagen, plus seasonal destinations such as Salzburg, Zadar, Thessaloniki and Palma de Mallorca.

At the same time, the situation got harder. In October 2022, Flyr announced it would cut its winter schedule by about half to save just under 40 million euros – demand was far weaker than expected. In November, the airline asked its investors for fresh money and made clear that continued operations were otherwise not assured. The first attempt did not raise the necessary sum. In addition, Flyr wanted to sublease at least one aircraft to another airline.

2023: the end

On January 30, 2023, Flyr announced that the alternative financing plan had failed as well. On February 1, 2023, the airline filed for bankruptcy and canceled all flights. Several hundred employees lost their jobs. That ended the story after only about 19 months of operations.

Flyr thus joins a long list of European airline failures. You can find an overview of the big cases in the article Major airline collapses in Europe.

The fleet: Boeing 737s only

Flyr consistently relied on a single aircraft type – typical for the low-cost carrier business model. A uniform fleet saves costs on training, maintenance and spare parts, and crews can be assigned to any aircraft.

Type	Number (end of 2022, according to fleet lists)	Seats	Origin	Spotter tip
Boeing 737-800	6	189	Used, including from Pegasus Airlines	First Flyr jets, including LN-FGA and LN-FGB
Boeing 737 MAX 8	6	189	Leased	Newer generation, joined later

The first aircraft were roughly eight-year-old 737-800s that had previously flown for the Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus. The owner was the lessor Pembroke. For a start-up this was an obvious step: Used 737-800s were readily available and cheap to lease during the pandemic, while new MAX aircraft were scarcer. How such contracts work is explained in the article on aircraft leasing.

Flyr relied on leased aircraft rather than buying its own – that made the start faster, but it also meant ongoing fixed costs no matter how full the planes were. The manufacturer of both types is Boeing.

737-800 or 737 MAX 8? How you told them apart

Because Flyr flew both generations in the same livery, it pays to look at the details in old photos. The guide How to tell the Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart explains this in depth.

The engines are the surest feature. On Flyr aircraft the cowlings were painted in a uniform mint green – which is why the serrated edges of the MAX stand out especially well in photos. The article on ICAO type designators explains what type codes like B738 or B38M mean.

How you recognized Flyr

The livery was one of the most striking designs flying in Scandinavia in the early 2020s: green and white, with the “Flyr” titles and mint-green engine cowlings. Compared with the red tails of Norwegian or the darker look of SAS, a Flyr jet was instantly recognizable at Gardermoen.

There were also a few hard facts:

• Type: always a Boeing 737 – Flyr had no Airbus aircraft or turboprops.
• Registration: Norwegian with LN-; the first two jets carried LN-FGA and LN-FGB.
• Cabin: 189 seats in a single class.
• Tracker: ICAO code FOX and callsign GREENSTAR.

How to read registrations in general is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations.

Flyr in the Norwegian market

The Norwegian domestic market is remarkable for its size: long distances, few road and rail alternatives to the north and many flights between Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and northern Norway. That is exactly where Flyr took on strong competition:

Airline	Role in Norway	Fleet (rough)
SAS	Scandinavian network carrier	Mostly Airbus jets
Norwegian	The country’s largest low-cost airline	Boeing 737
Widerøe	Regional network along the coast	Dash 8, Embraer
Flyr	Low-cost newcomer from Oslo (2021–2023)	Boeing 737

Flyr thus competed head-on with Norwegian, which was growing again after the crisis – and with the same aircraft type. The family story is interesting too: With Erik G. Braathen, a name stood behind Flyr that is closely tied in Norway to Braathens SAFE, the airline that was absorbed into SAS in 2004. By the way, Norse Atlantic Airways also launched at about the same time as Flyr – though with Boeing 787s on long-haul routes rather than 737s in Europe.

What became of the aircraft

Because the aircraft were leased, they went back to their lessors after the bankruptcy. Such aircraft are usually repainted and put into service with other airlines – often with a new registration in another country. We don’t name specific successor operators here because they can change with every re-lease.

It is still exciting for you as a spotter: An aircraft keeps its serial number (MSN) for life. LN-FGA, for example, carries MSN 40014. The MSN lets you trace where a former Flyr aircraft flies today. Right after a transfer, aircraft sometimes show up in interim liveries – how to recognize such mixed paint schemes is explained in the article on hybrid liveries.

Common mix-ups

• Confusing Flyr with Norwegian – both flew Boeing 737s out of Oslo, but Norwegian has red tails and Flyr was green and white.
• Taking FOX for a tracker error – FOX really was Flyr’s ICAO code.
• Reading FS as another airline’s flight number – between 2021 and early 2023, FS on flights from Oslo stood for Flyr.
• Assuming every 737 in Flyr colors is a 737-800 – 737 MAX 8s later flew in the same livery too.
• Thinking Flyr was a subsidiary of Norwegian or Braathens SAFE – Flyr was an independent start-up, even though people from that circle were involved.

Conclusion

Flyr was a bold attempt: a new airline in the middle of a pandemic, with experienced staff, used 737s and an eye-catching green-and-white look. It wasn’t enough – after about 19 months it was over. For spotters, Flyr remains a small rarity. If you had one of the green 737s in your viewfinder, you should archive the photo cleanly with registration, type and date.