“Flying has generally never been an overly lucrative industry“, Skyway's Chairman said after he sold the company for 1 krona.

The global economic crisis has been a growing headache for Skyways, a Swedish airline established in 1987 and previously known as Avia, and the company has been facing severe economic difficulties.

The famous Swedish shipping company family Salén and Scaninavian airline SAS have now sold their stakes in the airline to chief executive officer Lars-Åke Bertilsson for the prize of one krona.

The news came the same week as SAS is expected to post its eighth uninterrupted quarterly net loss. Last week Finnish airline Finnair reported a widening quarterly loss, blaming low fares and said no speedy recovery was in sight.

“Flying has generally never been an overly lucrative industry“, Staffan Salén, Chairman of the board of Skyways' parent company told daily Dagens Nyheter.

“It's been a lot of different proposals to reduce costs. But none of them went on to the goal. This is the best solution,“ he added.

The company's new name will be Avia Express.

The financial difficulties may be a problem to travelers in the Baltic States. Lithuania relies on the company for direct transit between the capital and Sweden, Lithuania website Alfa said.

Last year Skyways made a profit of 7 million kronor (€700,000, $1 million) down from 50 million a year ago. The organization is in debt to the tune of 300 million kronor with 400 million kronor in assets, according to Dagens Nyheter.