Danish leisure airline of the Nordic Leisure Travel Group (Ving, Spies, Tjäreborg and Globetrotter), flying holidaymakers from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland to about 25 charter destinations including Portugal. Founded in 1994 as Premiair and renamed from Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia in November 2019, it operates a dozen Airbus A321, A321neo, A330 and A330neo aircraft. Its Lisbon branch, Sunclass Airlines ApS – Sucursal em Portugal (NIF 980666210), is registered for aircraft ground support; its parent group agreed in June 2026 to be acquired by Norwegian Air Shuttle.
Sunclass Airlines is the in-house carrier for the Nordic region’s largest package-holiday group. Under the Ving (Sweden and Norway), Spies (Denmark) and Tjäreborg (Finland) brands, Nordic Leisure Travel Group sells packaged holidays whose flights Sunclass operates from seven Nordic bases to some 25 leisure destinations in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, Portugal, Turkey, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Portugal features through the Algarve and Madeira, and the group’s Lisbon-registered branch is set up for aircraft ground-support activity in the country.
The company’s ownership has changed twice in seven years. When Thomas Cook Group collapsed in September 2019, the Scandinavian airline and tour operators were bought by a consortium of Norwegian hotelier Petter Stordalen’s Strawberry Group, Altor Equity Partners and TDR Capital, and the airline was renamed Sunclass Airlines on 1 November 2019. On 16 June 2026 the owners agreed to sell Nordic Leisure Travel Group to Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, which flies 27 million passengers a year, to create a combined Nordic leisure and business travel group; Altor, Strawberry and TDR are to become significant shareholders in Norwegian on closing. Sunclass has meanwhile renewed its fleet, taking its first Airbus A321neo in December 2023 alongside A330-900neo widebodies.
Charter capacity is the plumbing of Nordic tourism to Portugal. Nordic package holidays to Madeira and the Algarve depend on a small number of carriers, and Sunclass is the largest dedicated Nordic one. The pending Norwegian takeover matters for Portuguese airports and hotels: it would fold the Ving, Spies and Tjäreborg hotel and package businesses into an airline with an extensive scheduled network, which the parties say will bring package holidays to more destinations. How Faro, Funchal and Lisbon feature in that combined network is a question NorthSouth HQ will follow through the 2027 season.
June 2026 — Norwegian Air Shuttle agrees to acquire Nordic Leisure Travel Group, Sunclass Airlines’ parent, from Altor, Strawberry and TDR (announced 16 June 2026).
December 2023 — First Airbus A321neo delivered to Sunclass Airlines.
November 2019 — Airline renamed Sunclass Airlines after the Thomas Cook collapse and the consortium purchase of Ving Group.
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