Norwegian CEO, Geir Karlsen and Camilla Viken, Secretary General of UNICEF Norway

Press release - 3 December 2021 13:00

Norwegian and UNICEF Norway extend collaboration

For almost 15 years, Norwegian has had a partnership with UNICEF Norway. Norwegian has contributed with humanitarian actions, fundraising campaigns and donations from customers and employees. In total, the collaboration has given UNICEF Norway more than NOK 50 million, and the partnership was today renewed for another three years.

“I am proud to extend the collaboration with UNICEF Norway. Internally in Norwegian, the partnership creates a lot of commitment, and we see that our contributions are yielding results. Through fundraising campaigns from employees, donations from customers and humanitarian campaigns in collaboration with the Norwegian authorities, we have together contributed to giving children all over the world better living conditions”, says Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian.

So far this year, Norwegian's customers have chosen to donate a total of NOK 1.2 million to UNICEF Norway. In addition, Norwegian has a tradition of refraining from giving Christmas presents internally instead choosing to give UNICEF Norway NOK 300,000 every year.

“We are both happy and grateful that we are renewing the partnership with Norwegian. What we have in common are values and ambitions to build a better world for children. Since 2007, we have achieved a lot with Norwegian. The corona pandemic has set back some of our sustainability goals. However, thanks to contributions from Norwegian, we are getting closer and closer to our goal of reaching every child in need” says Camilla Viken, Secretary General of UNICEF Norway.

In the new co-operation agreement, several of the UN's sustainability goals are put on the agenda. Historically, Norwegian and UNICEF have worked together for the world's number one goal: to eradicate poverty. Going forward, sustainability goals 8 and 13 will also be central to the collaboration: Decent work and economic growth, and stopping climate change.

Norwegian's collaboration with UNICEF Norway has helped hundreds of thousands of children around the world. Since the partnership was entered into in 2007, Norwegian and the company's customers have raised more than NOK 50 million for UNICEF Norway. Customers can choose to give a monetary gift to UNICEF Norway when they buy airline tickets via the company's website.

The new agreement has a duration of three years and applies in the period 2021-2023.

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About Norwegian

Norwegian was founded in 1993 but began operating as a low-cost carrier with Boeing 737 aircraft in 2002. Since then, our mission has been to offer affordable fares for all and to allow customers to travel the smart way by offering value and choice throughout their journey.

Norwegian has been voted Europe’s Best Low-Cost airline by Skytrax for six consecutive years and won Airline Program of the Year Europe & Africa at the Freddie Awards for four consecutive years. Since 2012, Norwegian has won over 55 awards for our service, product, and innovation in the industry.

We were the first airline in the world to join the UN Climate Secretariat’s climate action-initiative in 2019, pledging to work systematically to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Norwegian operates a short haul network across the Nordics and to key European destinations providing customers with excellent quality at affordable fares.

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Norwegian.com

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.