Norwegian Air Shuttle

[Brum X]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...99456/Norwegian-Captain-flies-737-son-19.html

Yeah i saw this also on the BHX flight blog. I got a bit confused though as the article says that they are from Warwickhire so im assuming they live in Tenerife now as the aircraft was operating to TFS and BHX is not a base ?

 

[Ray Finkle]

The article says there were 180 pax, only 6 empty seats.

With Norwegian seeing such great loads it makes you wonder why they look as if they are pulling their Spanish flights (outside of Gatwick). I've spoken to several people who have flown with them this year and all the reviews have been very positive. It'll be a real shame if we do lose them.

 

[Brum X]

The article says there were 180 pax, only 6 empty seats.

With Norwegian seeing such great loads it makes you wonder why they look as if they are pulling their Spanish flights (outside of Gatwick). I've spoken to several people who have flown with them this year and all the reviews have been very positive. It'll be a real shame if we do lose them.

It will be a great shame, i had a great flight to LPA with them last year.

 

[Jerry]

I wish they'd launch more Canary Island-UK flights! 1 weekly LPA from Norwegian at CWL would be great. It would be a shame if Norwegian just retreated to LGW rather than look to expand at airports like BHX and add new ones like CWL.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I wish they'd launch more Canary Island-UK flights! 1 weekly LPA from Norwegian at CWL would be great. It would be a shame if Norwegian just retreated to LGW rather than look to expand at airports like BHX and add new ones like CWL.

Following the EU vote their Chief said that they had seen a drop in bookings from the UK to Spain. Since then I've seen articles suggesting that bookings to Spain are actually up this year. Obviously Norwegian have the data regarding yields, forward bookings etc but it would be nice to think that their reaction was a little too quick and they are now considering bringing the Spanish routes back for next summer.

Like Brum X we had a great flight with them last year and were considering using them to TFS next year.

 

[Aceshigh]

Confirmation on the Manchester thread that NOR are pulling sun routes out of BHX altogether. What proportion of traffic does that represent at Birmingham?

 

[Brum X]

Confirmation on the Manchester thread that NOR are pulling sun routes out of BHX altogether. What proportion of traffic does that represent at Birmingham?

Most on the BHX thread are already prepared for no more NAS flights. Probably around 15 flights per week so not gonna put a massive dent in our passenger figures as the Jet 2 expansion will more than compensate for this loss. However it is always sad to see an airline go.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Not just BHX, none of the sunshine routes from any UK airport (MAN, BHX, EDI and even LGW) are bookable for next summer and haven't been for quite a while.

I'm not sure that there has been any 'official conformation' either, whilst it's definitely looking unlikely Norwegian do have a tendency to leave things rather late.

There are several rumours about what may be happening but as far as I'm aware it's pure speculation.

LPA had already gone for this summer so we lose AGP (3x weekly), TFS (2x weekly) and BCN (2x weekly) so 7 flights in total. As said, increases elsewhere will more than make up for it

Definitely sad to see them go though, we flew Norwegian last year and thought they were excellent.

 

[jfy1999]

I believe it was posted on the Manchester thread that they still hold slots for the sunshine routes - and EDI-BCN has been loaded onto the website for next summer...

 

[Aviador]

Bad news, Norwegian are scrapping ALL flights to Spain from Birimgham with almost immediate effect. Flights will cease on the 28th October.

#Norwegian #bhxnews

More on this story:
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/business/airline-scraps-flights-spain-birmingham-13801581

 

[GliderPilot]

Wow, didn't see that one coming at all

Definitely happy but with more than a hint of caution.

Norwegian are a fantastic airline and for BHX they have the potential to be exactly what we need. My query is whether those currently in power at BHX have the ability to realise this potential and work with Norwegian to add more routes and hopefully, in the future, a base? Going on past history you'd have to say no, they are not up to the job.

This is a massive opportunity for BHX with a great airline that have the potential to bring in huge passenger numbers and give us the European network that we've desperately craved for so long, those responsible CANNOT be allowed to do what they normally do and nause things up!

The proof in the pudding will be twelve months from now and if we are seeing more growth and new routes being added I will be very, very, very happy indeed and give BHX all the credit they would deserve, however, going on past history, I'm not getting my hopes up just yet.

This CANNOT be allowed to join BHX's very long one season wonder list, it has to work at all costs.

As a great man once said "Rejoice, rejoice.....but do not relax".

Its like Ray can predict the future, post number 4 on the Norweigan Air Shuttle thread and he is bang on. Norweigan came to BHX with confidence and obviously that enthusiasm and confidence in our airport along with exponential growth on their other routes. In Rays words, it looks like we relaxed.

 

[flymetothemoon]

gutted. at a time where they should see that the airport has massive potential, with an partly unfilled void left by a past airline they should be increasing capacity. Awful news for BHX

It's not great but it's not just BHX. They have taken a decision to concentrate on L/H
out of LGW and even their sun routes there are being culled to provide slots for Long haul.
All other Norwegian bases suffering too

 

[flymetothemoon]

A mate of mine who is a Jet2 captain said at the time of starting their BHX base that they were
"going after Monarch & Norwegian". Well wow have they just done that! We should be careful
what we wish for

 

[Aviador]

The pound is at an all time low against the euro. Hedging fuel costs can only last so long for any airline in these market conditions. Once hedging comes to an end savings have to be made else where. Sorry but It's got to be said but this is the price of #brexit .Routes that don't make money will go. Not just at BHX but at any UK airport at least untill confidence returns to the London stock exchange. #tinhatready #justsaying

 

[GliderPilot]

I've been told its a bold statement before but I will repeat, I think Norwegian will be relatively short-lived*. They are starting to put all their eggs in one basket (or flights in one airport). Personally, I think they should keep some of these sun routes, not just for the sake of BHX and the other airports but for the sake of their own reputation.

Making a route for one season and then dropping it is not a going to do them any favours. When the growth stagnates for Norwegian as they cannot see growth like this forever, those customers they relied on for the growth in the first place on a route which they dropped after the first season, will be flying with another competing airline by then.

They are seeing amazing growth on these L/H routes at the moment as they offer a product no other airlines can yet properly compete with. Can they sustain this growth? Will they stay ahead of the pack when the 'bigger airlines' make some competition for them?
I don't think they will.

*When I say short-lived I don't mean total collapse like what we've been seeing recently. But, I do think they will not be as prominent in the airline industry as they are now, I think in the long run even the long-haul LGW routes will see massive reductions and Norwegian will fade from being the go-to cheap and cheerful long-haul airline in the UK

RANT OVER
That's just an opinion I have derived from the information I have seen.

 

[nwoody2001]

Bad news, Norwegian are scrapping ALL flights to Spain from Birimgham with almost immediate effect. Flights will cease on the 28th October.

#Norwegian #bhxnews

This is a little bit misleading. They are not scrapping any flights because none have ever been bookable past October 28th. Consequently we have known they are withdrawing from BHX for some time now.

They are not a major loss. They have only been operating 7x weekly flights for the last 2 months.

They had a major opportunity at BHX to launch a base and launch long-haul, but for whatever reason, the wimped out. subsequently, Jet2 has come in an stole their thunder and now Primera will be opening a Long-haul base and steeling the only other niche they had!

Its a great shame but it would appear it was their loss.

Its also worth pointing out that a majority of all Spanish routes operated from the UK by Norwegian have been axed. Its just unfortunate for BHX that Norwegian only operated Spanish routes. At Man for example, Malaga, Barcelona and Alicante are also being dropped as of the end of October leaving them with just the 3 Scandinavia routes they had before Norwegian expanded a few years ago!

 

[Jerry]

The pound is at an all time low against the euro. Hedging fuel costs can only last so long for any airline in these market conditions. Once hedging comes to an end savings have to be made else where. Sorry but It's got to be said but this is the price of #brexit .Routes that don't make money will go. Not just at BHX but at any UK airport at least untill confidence returns to the London stock exchange. #tinhatready #justsaying

Not so sure it's Brexit. I think it's a consequence of them trying to compete in an ultra competitive market with to much capacity. And i think it's a consequence of them being a foreign airline and not having the awareness of the established British ones like Ryanair Easyjet and Jet2 are. It's the same for Vueling as well. They had to do a lot of advertising to build awareness up at CWL and neither may have done that at other airports or maybe even had the time.

 

[Ianbutty]

Easy come easy go. Short haul sunshine destinations clearly not suiting their business plan. These routes have too much capacity particularly now that the eastern Med is coming back as a destination.