39 countries and 139 destinations. These numbers makes Norwegian airline Europe’s third largest low-cost airline, and after being granted a new operating licence the Nordic aircompany seems to get off to a new flying start in 2016 with potential new routes to Asia.
On 13 November 2015 Norwegian was granted a UK Operating License opening up bilateral traffic rights to a series of potential new markets including Asia, South America and South Africa as the airline continues its huge growth in the UK.
Over the last 12 months, Norwegian has flown 3.9 million UK passengers to 34 global destinations, including the UK’s only low-cost direct flight to America. In the nearest future Norwegian can provide their passengers low-cost flights to Asia.
With new aircraft on order that will more than quadruple its current long distance fleet, Norwegian is planning further expansion in key markets, particularly the UK. Their UK Operating License has been granted to them following a detailed application process with the Civil Aviation Authority.
It is still not determined which Asian destinations and routes Norwegian will fly to in 2016.
Norwegian plans to begin operating under the new license as ‘Norwegian UK’ in the first quarter of 2016 and will be located at Gatwick where the airline already has ten aircraft and more than 400 crew and pilots based. Norwegian’s new routes and UK expansion plans are expected to help create several hundred jobs within Norwegian in the coming years, along with many more in the wider travel and tourism industry.
Sources: www.media.norwegian.com and www.norwegian.dk
