COPENHAGEN, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (NAS), the Oslo-based low-cost carrier, confirmed on Tuesday that its reconstruction plan has been approved.

"The expiry of the appeal period of the rescue plan, without appeals being filed, consequently means the plan is final and binding," said the company in a press release.

The final development in the rescue plan comes in the wake of an Irish court approving the plan in March, followed by a court's approval in Norway in April.

According to the press release, the approval paved the way for the company "to complete the reconstruction process on May 26, 2021."

The main objective of the rescue plan is to help facilitate a large part of the debt accrued by the airline and inject a further six billion Norwegian kroner (NOK) (730 million U.S. dollars) in capital funding into the company.

NAS was weighed down with a debt of 60 billion NOK in 2020. Currently, the debt stands at 40 billion NOK, with the rescue plan determined to bring it down to a more manageable 20 billion NOK.

The plan has attracted new investors into the company, including Norwegian oil and shipping tycoon John Fredriksen, and two of Norway's largest banking and financial groups DNB and Nordea.

The rescue plan will see NAS reduce future staffing levels to a third of the current 10,000 employees at the airline. In addition, NAS will focus on flights based in Scandinavia countries to destinations in Europe only. Enditem (1 NOK=0.12 U.S. dollars)

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