Norwegian increases capacity by 12 aircraft, and resumes more international routes. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still recommends southern travel.
The airline said in a stock exchange announcement Wednesday morning. Norwegian has had only eight of 156 aircraft in operation since April. Now they increase flight capacity by 12 aircraft and resume flights.
The airline will resume 76 routes from July 1. This applies to both domestic and international routes, and includes routes to Spain, Greece and several European cities.
– It’s nice to be able to stand here and announce that we are opening. As a rule, when we have been standing here now, we have told how we close as a result of the corona virus, says Norwegian CEO Jacob Schram to NRK.
– Now we are in the situation where we open 76 additional routes from July 1, and the good thing is that we get another 600 of our red nose warriors back to work. So together now we are 900 back to work.
After the corona erupted, it quickly became clear that the insurance companies could not receive support if they defied the Foreign Travel Council.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs still discourages travel to countries outside the Nordic countries that are not strictly necessary, but now the insurance companies have turned. Travel insurance applies as agreed as long as what has gone wrong has nothing to do with the corona.
Several employees back at work
Norwegian states that 300 pilots and 600 cabin crew from the company’s bases in Norway will operate on a total of 20 aircraft. This means that 400 cabin employees can return to work after layoffs.
In addition, 200 pilots will be called back to work as the company now increases capacity.
Although the authorities have opened up travel to areas in the Nordic countries with “acceptable contagion pressure”, all foreign trips that are not strictly necessary are still not advised.
We now see that society is gradually opening up when it comes to welcoming tourists, and we see that not least our competitors are starting to move. We are a commercial airline and want to compete on a par with everyone else, says Schram.
He believes the society has become better at taking precautions to keep the infection protected, and states that from today, Norwegian will introduce mouthwash for all passengers over six years, following restrictions from European aviation authorities.
Yesterday, SAS also announced in an announcement that they will increase capacity from 30 to 40 aircraft in July. As demand for flights increases, the airline writes that it will resume a number of flights from Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. This also applies to several foreign routes from Oslo, including to Reykjavík.
