Press release -
Norwegian’s Barcelona base has officially opened
Norwegian today celebrated the opening if its new crew base in Barcelona. The new base is important to Norwegian’s international growth and Barcelona will be strategically important for the company’s future long-haul plans.
This is Norwegian’s sixth base in Spain, along with Madrid, Alicante, Malaga, Las Palmas and Tenerife. Norwegian also has bases in all the Nordic countries, in addition to England, the United States and Thailand.
“We are very pleased to have an up-and-running base in Barcelona. There’s been a high demand for non-stop flights to and from Spain’s second largest city and the capital of Catalonia. Barcelona is also strategically important for us as we are considering the airport for future long-haul operations,” said Norwegian’s CEO Bjørn Kjos.
The figures from Barcelona speak for themselves; from March to October this year, Norwegian expects to fly approximately 700,000 passengers in and out of Barcelona. In the same period last year, Norwegian flew 490,000 passengers in and out of the Spanish city. This means a passenger increase of 40 percent.
Creating new jobs locally
"Members of the Barcelona Air Route Development (CDRA) celebrate the base opening of Norwegian in Barcelona and are very pleased that the company views Barcelona-El Prat as an important part of its future strategy, especially in regards to long-haul flights. Norwegian´s base at Barcelona airport means not only creation of new jobs in the local aviation industry, but new jobs in the the entire tourism industry," said Ricard Font, CDRA President and Secretary of Infrastructure and Mobility of the Catalan Government.
Norwegian has three new Boeing 737-800s based at Barcelona-El Prat Airport and has recruited more than 120 pilots and cabin crew locally. In addition, Norwegian is offering four new routes and has increased the number of frequencies on existing routes as of April 2014. Norwegian currently offers 11 direct routes and 69 weekly flights from Barcelona.
Flight Schedule – new routes
Barcelona – Sandefjord Torp: Twice a week on Thursday and Sunday from April 3
Barcelona – Hamburg: Four times a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from April 3
Barcelona – Berlin: Three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from April 2
Barcelona – Warsaw: Three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from April 3
Increased number of flights
Stockholm – Barcelona: 13 weekly flights
Helsinki – Barcelona: Daily flights
Barcelona – London: Daily flights from March 31
For media enquiries:
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. More than 20 million passengers fly on its network per year. 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 416 routes to 126 destinations and employs approximately 3,500 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. In 2013, Norwegian was voted Europe’s best low-cost carrier of the year by the renowned SkyTrax World Airline Awards. Norwegian offers better leg room than most competitors, in-flight WiFi, world-class punctuality and a fleet of 89 aircraft with an average age of only 4.8 years.
