The pilots and cabin crew in Scandinavia are employed in subsidiaries in the Norwegian Group. Unfortunately, despite the measures that the company has already taken to reduce costs, the Board of these companies are left with no choice but to apply for bankruptcy.
Airline Crew from across the industry have come together to form Project Wingman to support the well-being of frontline NHS staff during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (NAS) – Norwegian aims to strengthen its balance sheet by converting debt to equity to meet the requirements of the Norwegian state guarantee program and create a sustainable platform taking into account current shareholders and creditors alike.
The global outbreak of COVID-19 that took hold across the aviation industry throughout March has heavily influenced Norwegian´s traffic figures. The company experienced a dramatic drop in demand following government-imposed travel restrictions and a general travel decline.
Norwegian is pleased to announce that two Nordic banks have obtained credit committee approval to provide a guarantee for the required 10 percent for the first tranche of NOK 300 million. Norwegian will secure the necessary headroom to pursue further guarantees from the Norwegian Government.
The COVID-19 situation is escalating by the hour and due to stagnating demand and enforced travel restrictions by authorities worldwide, Norwegian will gradually cancel most of its flights and temporarily lay off a major share of its workforce.
The company is continuously working to reduce costs even further. However, the corona crisis has now led to the need of powerful and extraordinary measures from the government.
Following the U.S. ban on travel from most of Europe and the escalating coronavirus situation, Norwegian has decided to ground 40 percent of its long-haul fleet and cancel up to 25 percent of its short-haul flights until the end of May. The changes apply to the company’s entire route network.
Due to the COVID-19 situation, Norwegian is preparing to cancel approximately 3000 flights between mid-March and mid-June. This represents approximately 15 percent of the total capacity for this period. The company has also put several other measures in place, including temporary layoffs of a significant share of its workforce.
Norwegian’s traffic figures for February show that the company continues to deliver on its strategy of moving from growth to profitability, with significant improvements in unit revenue and a better punctuality. Due to the COVID-19 virus Norwegian currently experiences reduced demand on some routes and have decided to cancel 22 flights between Europe and the U.S.
Norwegian has maintained its leadership position as the largest foreign airline in New York City for 2019, after surpassing Air Canada in February 2019, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANYNJ) year-end traffic statistics. For full-year 2019, Norwegian handled 2,057,284 customers in New York City.
Norwegian today reported its full year and fourth quarter 2019 results. Year on year, unit revenue increased in nine consecutive months, driven by maturing routes and the optimisation of Norwegian's global route network. The punctuality has improved considerably during the past six quarters, and in the fourth quarter 2019 it was up 3.1 percentage points to 82.6 percent.
The Norwegian group is a leading Nordic aviation company, headquartered at Fornebu outside Oslo, Norway. The company has over 8,200 employees and owns two of the prominent airlines in the Nordics: Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe’s Flyveselskap. Widerøe was acquired by Norwegian in 2024, aiming to facilitate seamless air travel across the two airline’s networks.
Norwegian Air Shuttle, the largest Norwegian airline with around 4,700 employees, operates an extensive route network connecting Nordic countries to key European destinations. In 2023, Norwegian carried over 20 million passengers and maintained a fleet of 87 Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
Widerøe’s Flyveselskap, Norway’s oldest airline, is Scandinavia’s largest regional carrier. The airline has more than 3,500 employees. Mainly operating the short-runway airports in rural Norway, Widerøe operates several state contract routes (PSO routes) in addition to its own commercial network. In 2023, the airline had 3.3 million passengers and a fleet of 48 aircraft, including 45 Bombardier Dash 8’s and three Embraer E190-E2's. Widerøe Ground Handling provides ground handling services at 41 Norwegian airports.
The Norwegian group has sustainability as a key priority and has committed to significantly reducing carbon emissions from its operations. Among numerous initiatives, the most noteworthy is the investment in production and use of fossil-free aviation fuel (SAF). Norwegian strives to become the sustainable choice for its passengers, actively contributing to the transformation of the aviation industry.
