Press release -
Domestic flights in Norway, Sweden and Denmark affected by pilot strike in Norwegian
More than 35,000 customers in Scandinavia will tomorrow be affected by the pilot strike at Norwegian. Ever since the weekend, Norwegian’s management has been trying to get a solution with Norwegian Pilot Union (NPU) and the union Parat to prevent that even more passengers are affected, without success.
Despite repeated attempts by Norwegian's management to bring about constructive talks to avoid escalation of the strike, it has unfortunately not been possible to achieve a dialogue. As a result, all domestic flights in Norway, Sweden and Denmark will be cancelled tomorrow, Wednesday 4 March. All flights between the Scandinavian cities are also cancelled.
Norwegian would like to apologise to all passengers who are affected by these cancellations. We will do utmost to take care of all our passengers the best possible way. Passenger who have registered their mobile phones numbers on their Norwegian profiles, and who are affected by the strike, will be notified via SMS from Norwegian. We urge all passengers to keep themselves updated via Norwegian’s website and check the Flight Status for information on specific routes.
We wish to advise that the following flights should operate according to schedule tomorrow, Wednesday 4 March 2015:
- Flights to/from the UK with flight numbers DY2400 to DY2900
- Flights to/from Spain with flight numbers DY5100 to DY5598
- Flights to/from Finland with flight numbers DY5599 to 5999
- Flights to/from USA and Thailand with flight numbers DY7001 to DY7999
Background for the conflict
The conflict applies to Norwegian’s Scandinavian subsidiary, Norwegian Air Norway (NAN).
Prior to the mediation, Norwegian had proposed several essential cost reductions to ensure a sustainable company and secure jobs in the future. Unfortunately, NPU/Parat did not meet these criteria. Instead, they had demands that conflicted with the collective agreement signed in 2013. NPU’s goal has been to control the company and the company’s production, obtain a collective agreement in a company they are not employed by, and that the Norwegian collective agreement should also apply outside Norway. Norwegian could not agree with the requirement of a common seniority list for all pilots; i.e. seniority in a company they are not employed in. In practice, this would mean that Scandinavian pilots could have an unfair advantage over colleagues at other bases in Europe.
We will do our utmost to ensure that all affected passengers are taken care of in the best possible way according to EU Regulation 261/2004.
Media Contact:
Norwegian’s Press Office, + 47 815 11 816
Topics
Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, commercially branded “Norwegian”, is a low-cost airline listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Norwegian is the second largest airline in Scandinavia and third largest low cost carrier in Europe. The company reported its highest ever passenger figures in a single year with almost 24 million passengers in 2014. Norwegian has a route portfolio that stretches across Europe into North Africa and the Middle East, as well as long-haul flights to the US and Southeast Asia. The company has a total of 424 routes to 130 destinations and employs approximately 4,500 people in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, UK, Spain and Thailand. The company has 258 undelivered aircraft on firm order. Norwegian was founded in 1993 and its headquarter is in Fornebu, Norway. Norwegian offers better leg room than most competitors, in-flight WiFi on short haul, world-class punctuality and a fleet of 96 aircraft with an average age of only four years. In 2013 and 2014, Norwegian was voted Europe’s best low-cost carrier of the year by the renowned SkyTrax World Airline Awards. In 2014, Norwegian also won three prizes at the prestigious Passenger Choice Awards for Best Airline in Europe, Best Inflight Connectivity & Communications and Best Single Achievement in Passenger Experience for its moving map on the 787 Dreamliners. In addition, Norwegian was awarded Europe's best low-cost airline by AirlineRatings.com for the second year running.
