The Estonian state is closing the company through which it owned the aircraft flown by Nordica. ERR News reports that the government decided in July to liquidate Transpordi Varahaldus and is expected within weeks to give Infrastructure Minister Kuldar Leis the authority to carry this out.
The company has little left to settle. Its seven aircraft and the spare parts have been sold, it owes nothing, and EUR 25 million stands on its bank accounts. That sum is to go to the State Treasury next year; according to Leis, the Finance Ministry decides how it is used.
What remains open is the money owed to the lessor. Transpordi Varahaldus has claims of EUR 35.7 million against Nordica and EUR 27.5 million against Regional Jet, the airline's subsidiary. Both debtors are bankrupt. In the course of the liquidation these claims move to the state, and either the Finance Ministry or the Climate Ministry will manage them until the two bankruptcy proceedings end. We have no intention of giving up these claims,
Leis said.
The minister expects the liquidation to last nine to 12 months and describes the steps as routine legal procedures.
Nordica stopped operating in March, when the last of its jets left Tallinn Airport. Nordica and Regional Jet filed for bankruptcy in November 2024; Nordica was declared bankrupt in January 2025 and Regional Jet a month later. Both Nordica and Transpordi Varahaldus started in 2015.
Source: ERR News, . The text above is our own summary; the words in quotation marks are the source's.
What this means for an Estonian entrepreneur
The case shows what closing a company looks like when it is done in order. The assets were sold and the debts paid first, and the liquidation is still expected to take most of a year. Money that others owe the company was not written off: in this case the claims pass to the owner. An entrepreneur who plans to close an Estonian company should allow time for the procedure and decide in advance what happens to its unpaid claims.
An owner who no longer needs an Estonian company closes it through liquidation; we prepare the decision, the register entries and the final steps. Company liquidation