NextJet

If you stood at the fence at Arlanda until 2018, you know the picture: between A320s and 737s, a small Saab 340 taxis to the runway, headed for Lycksele, Hemavan or Gällivare. Behind it was often NextJet – one of Sweden’s largest regional airlines. NextJet flew where big airlines did not want to go and thereby kept many places in the north connected to Stockholm. In May 2018, it was over. This page shows you who NextJet was, which aircraft the airline flew and how to classify old sightings cleanly.

NextJet at a glance

NextJet was a Swedish regional airline that existed from 2002 to 2018. The headquarters were in Frösundavik in Solna, just north of Stockholm, and the main hub was Stockholm-Arlanda. Most domestic flights departed from there. In addition there were flights from Mariehamn on the Åland Islands, which NextJet operated on behalf of Air Åland.

The business model was typical for a small regional airline in the north: sparsely populated areas, long distances on the ground, few passengers per flight. Many of these connections hardly pay off without a subsidy. That is why the Swedish state subsidized many NextJet domestic routes. In addition there were flights on behalf of other airlines and its own scheduled services with connections via Arlanda.

Today NextJet is history. On May 16, 2018, the airline filed for bankruptcy and ceased flight operations the same day.

From founding to the end

NextJet was founded in 2002. One of the founders, Magnus Ivarsson, led the airline as CEO until the end. Besides scheduled service, NextJet also offered air taxi and business travel flights with two business jets.

The key milestones at a glance:

• 2002: The airline is founded.
• Scheduled service: Mainly the Saab 340 and the larger BAe ATP are used, in earlier years also the small Beechcraft 1900D.
• From summer 2010: NextJet flies numerous domestic routes from Stockholm-Bromma on behalf of Sverigeflyg, and also for Air Åland from Mariehamn to Arlanda and Helsinki.
• From 2012: Höga Kusten Flyg, an association of businesspeople from Örnsköldsvik, becomes the main owner. The aim was to secure the region’s air link to Stockholm.
• July 2016: New owners – the energy company Katternö from Jakobstad in Finland, Air Åland and Magnus Ivarsson.
• August 2017: The Swedish Transport Agency restricts the operating license because of the financial situation.
• May 16, 2018: Bankruptcy and end of flight operations.

Among the investors, by the way, was a prominent name: Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, took a stake in the airline.

The connection to Sverigeflyg is interesting: the regional network for which NextJet flew in Bromma from 2010 was later absorbed into BRA Braathens Regional Airlines. NextJet and BRA thus became the two opposite poles of Swedish regional service – BRA focused on Bromma, NextJet on Arlanda.

Codes and callsigns

• IATA code 2N: appeared in flight numbers on tickets and departure boards.
• ICAO code NTJ: this is how the airline appears in ADS-B data and flight plans.
• Callsign NEXTJET: the crew used it to check in with air traffic control.

When you browse old flight plans or logbooks, the ICAO code NTJ helps you assign NextJet flights unambiguously. IATA codes are sometimes reassigned after an airline ends, so the date matters when matching. How the system behind the codes works is explained in the article IATA and ICAO codes explained simply.

The fleet: Saab 340, BAe ATP and guests

NextJet was a true turboprop airline. Jets played a role in scheduled service only through leased aircraft. The backbone was the Saab 340 – a Swedish product from Saab that suited short routes with little demand perfectly. For routes with more passengers, NextJet used the larger BAe ATP from BAE Systems.

Shortly before the end, in May 2018, the fleet looked like this according to the industry service ch-aviation:

Type	Number (May 2018)	Seats	Spotter note
Saab 340B	6	33–36	Most common type, seen everywhere on domestic routes
Saab 340A	3	33–36	Older version of the Saab 340
BAe ATP	4	around 64–72	Largest own type, rare turboprop
ATR 42-300	1 (wet lease)	around 40–50	Leased from DOT LT, combi version (QC)
Bombardier CRJ200	2 (wet lease)	50	Leased from Voyageur Airways, the only jets in the scheduled lineup

Types from earlier years add to this, such as the Beechcraft 1900D, a small turboprop with around 19 seats. At times an ATR 72 also appears in fleet overviews. If you have ATR photos with a NextJet connection in your archive, check carefully whether it was an ATR 42-300 or an ATR 72, for example from the ATR 72-200 series – the two differ mainly in fuselage length. You will find more on the manufacturer at ATR.

The CRJ200 from Bombardier and the ATR 42 flew on wet lease: the partner provided aircraft and crew, and NextJet sold the tickets. What the model means for assigning a sighting is explained in the article Wet lease explained simply.

The route network: from Hemavan to Pori

At the end, NextJet served around 20 destinations. The focus was clearly on Swedish domestic service, with many places in Norrland and Lapland. Documented destinations include:

• Sweden: Stockholm-Arlanda (hub), Arvidsjaur, Gällivare, Hemavan/Tärnaby, Kramfors-Sollefteå, Lycksele and Vilhelmina
• Finland: Helsinki and Pori
• Åland: Mariehamn

How important NextJet was for some places became clear at the bankruptcy. According to ch-aviation, Arvidsjaur, Gällivare, Hemavan/Tärnaby, Kramfors-Sollefteå, Lycksele and Vilhelmina in Sweden and Pori in Finland lost all their scheduled service at once. For these places, the airline was not an alternative but the only connection.

The flights for Air Åland between Mariehamn, Arlanda and Helsinki also made NextJet visible on the Finnish side of the Baltic Sea. From 2016, Air Åland was even a co-owner. At the end, partners such as Voyageur Airways and DOT LT also helped out with wet-lease aircraft.

The end: license problems, sabotage and bankruptcy

The decline stretched over about a year. In August 2017, the Swedish Transport Agency restricted NextJet’s operating license because the financial situation was not stable enough. The airline kept flying with a provisional permit, the owners put in more money, and in October 2017 there was a license again.

Almost at the same time, an unusual incident made headlines: on October 30, 2017, early in the morning, someone entered the grounds of Gällivare airport in northern Sweden and tampered with a NextJet aircraft. The police investigated on suspicion of sabotage. The aircraft was taken out of service, the morning flight to Kramfors was canceled and the airspace was temporarily closed. What exactly had been changed on the aircraft was not stated in the reports at the time.

On May 16, 2018, the end came. NextJet filed for bankruptcy and canceled all flights from 1 p.m. – effective immediately. The website crashed under the rush, and passengers were asked not to travel to the airport. CEO Magnus Ivarsson said, in essence, that they had tried everything but found no solution.

In early June 2018, there seemed to be one more chance: the Olsen Group bought the airline and the operation and announced a restart under the name Air Scandic for June 11, 2018. But no flights ever took place. You will find an overview of similar cases in the article Major airline bankruptcies in Europe.

How to recognize NextJet in old photos

The most important clue is the aircraft type. A Saab 340 or BAe ATP at Arlanda or at a small airport in northern Sweden before May 2018 has a good chance of being a NextJet aircraft. You recognize the Saab 340 by its low-wing layout, two propellers and the slender fuselage with around 34 seats. The ATP is much longer and has six-bladed propellers.

The assignment only becomes certain through the registration, though. For the airline’s own aircraft, the registration leads you through the aircraft register to NextJet as the operator, while on leased aircraft the fuselage carried the partner’s registration instead – which makes things tricky. How to read and trace registrations is shown in the guides Understanding aircraft registrations and Tracking an aircraft by registration. Many former NextJet aircraft kept flying with other operators after 2018 – the registration history tells you where.

Spotting NextJet today? Only in the archive

You can no longer see NextJet live. The airline has not existed since May 2018, and the restart as Air Scandic never happened either. What remains are archive photos – and they become rarer and more valuable every year. How to judge how special a shot is is described in the article How rare is my sighting?.

If you want to see turboprops in Swedish regional service today, you have good prospects at Arlanda. The visitors’ hill at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport offers official viewing spots. For tips on smaller airports where NextJet used to land, see the guide Spotting at small regional airports.

Context: NextJet among Sweden’s regional airlines

NextJet stands in a long line of Swedish domestic airlines. Before it, Linjeflyg shaped domestic service for decades, while Malmö Aviation and the predecessors of BRA flew from Bromma in parallel. The big routes mostly belonged to SAS. NextJet filled the niche in between: small places, small aircraft, lots of connecting traffic via Arlanda.

Similar models existed in neighboring Finland, too. Norra – Nordic Regional Airlines flies for Finnair, and with Blue1 another Nordic regional brand disappeared. In Norway, Widerøe is still the big turboprop airline for remote places today. The article Regional airlines in Europe offers an overview of the whole field.

Common mix-ups

• Equating NextJet with BRA – BRA was the competition with a focus on Bromma, while NextJet was based at Arlanda.
• Taking every Saab 340 in Sweden for NextJet – several airlines flew the type, so the registration decides.
• Logging Air Scandic as the successor – the announced restart never took place.
• Listing wet-lease aircraft as NextJet property – the ATR 42-300 and CRJ200s belonged to the partners DOT LT and Voyageur Airways in 2018.
• Taking NextJet for a jet operator – despite the name, the airline flew almost exclusively turboprops.
• Blindly assigning the IATA code 2N – after 2018 the code may have gone to other airlines, so always check the date.

Conclusion

For 16 years, NextJet was the small, unassuming airline without which many places in northern Sweden would have had no connection to Stockholm. Grown up with the Saab 340 and BAe ATP and supplemented at times by ATR and CRJ200, it linked Lapland, Finland and Åland with Arlanda. License problems in 2017 and tight finances led to bankruptcy on May 16, 2018. For spotters, what remains is a clearly delimited era that can be documented well with type, registration and date.