Norwegian Air Shuttle

[Ray Finkle]

I really hope we get Oslo at least for 2016.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Maybe this is a carrot being dangled in order to get a bit of an edge against any battle with Ryanair.

It would make a bit of sense with Wizz being able to move in for the eastern European routes and Norwegian with the sun routes.

For once, O'Leary has let a competitor steal a march on him.

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Re: Norwegian Air Shuttle to Palma

My sisters-in-law booked a holiday last week to Mallorca.

Outbound on Ryanair and inbound on Norwegian.

 

[Brum X]

Re: Norwegian Air Shuttle to Palma

My sisters-in-law booked a holiday last week to Mallorca.

Outbound on Ryanair and inbound on Norwegian.

Oooooooooooooh inbound on Norweigan ?????? That's interesting.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I was thinking the same thing. I wonder who it was booked with?

Thomson flight only is showing unavailable for me, I assume they are being updated so it's possible that Norwegian may do something for them similar to CWL. It could just be a website glitch though. All Thomas Cook to Palma is showing as TCX except Saturday which is Evelop.

 

[Ray Finkle]

A bit of creative spin with the 'fastest growing airline' stuff but good to see that Norwegian have already carried more than 70,000 pax.

Norwegian becomes Birmingham’s fastest growing airline with launch of two new routes

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Hinge & Bracket, as we call my sisters-in-law, had confirmation from the travel agent of their booking arrangements. Ryanair on both legs.

Sorry for any confusion.

 

[nwoody2001]

This may be something, or it may be nothing, but worth reporting...

I sent Norwegian and message on facebook last night as follows:

Me: "With most other airlines having released their Summer 2016 schedules out of Birmingham Airport (BHX), when can we expect to see your? ...Im looking to book my summer holidays with you!!!"

Norwegian: "They will be out soon, not long now!"

Me: "Great to hear! Can we expect anymore routes than the 5 you currently serve?"

Norwegian: "We have to wait and see what our route planners come up with"

So nothing earth shattering but its good to know that what is currently on sale and offer is not the extent of their summer 16 service. Also, its good to know that we apparently don't have long to wait....

 

[IanFarquharson]

NAX are looking at 3 new bases in 2016, one in the UK - where will it be ?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Well good, bad or indifferent it appears as if there will be something happening at BHX, hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer to find out.

NAX are looking at 3 new bases in 2016, one in the UK - where will it be ?

Interesting.

There were rumours flying about that a BHX base was on hold until 2017, could that have changed again or could EDI, or even MAN, have clinched it?

 

[justplanecrazy]

I think it might be MAN as they have applied for quite a few slots according to user001 on the MAN forum

 

[DaveBham]

I'm about to try out Norwegian tomorrow - flying out to Malaga. Looking forward to it..

 

[Ray Finkle]

Norwegian have their UK AOC, it's just for the 737-800 at the moment though.

 

[DaveBham]

Had to grab this opportunity to send my first forum message from 38,000ft up, somewhere over biscay. Did a bandwidth check and was getting 7mb download and 0.4 upload. Well done Norwegian. In flight drinks are prices as you'd expect, though monarch I'm sure are more expensive. €5 for a double gin is about norm, although I'm strictly on the soft drinks till Malaga - well apart from the gin and tonic I had with breakfast in the no1 departure lounge at bhx. (Incidentally if you're a times+ subscribe, you get this for half price 🙂
Also had a good look at 54c from the outside and couldn't see any obvious evidence of building works - we boarded at 54.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I really hope that BHX is a significant part of their plans.

‘Norwegian UK’ set to take-off as airline is granted UK Air Operating License

Norwegian, Europe’s third largest low-cost airline, has today been 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.

Norwegian has grown to become the third-largest airline at Gatwick and also operates from Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh. 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 flights to America.

With new aircraft on order that will more than quadruple its current long-haul fleet, Norwegian is planning further expansion in key markets, particularly the UK. Norwegian has now obtained a UK Operating License following a detailed application process with the Civil Aviation Authority. The UK license will help Norwegian access bilateral traffic rights, opening the door to new UK routes to a series of potential new markets in the future including Asia, South America and South Africa.

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.

Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos said: “The British market continues to play a major role in Norwegian’s growth. Securing a UK Operating License is great news and an important step to get a stronger foothold in the UK as we plan for further expansion, new routes and new jobs.”

Managing Director of Norwegian UK, Asgeir Nyseth said: “With nearly 4 million passengers in the UK over the last 12 months, passengers are voting with their feet for the quality, affordable travel we offer. We are changing the face of low-cost travel by offering free on-board WiFi, state-of-the-art new aircraft and the UK’s only direct low-cost flights to America. With the door now unlocked for new routes and further growth, we look forward to offering UK passengers a range of exciting new destinations in the future.”

News of the UK Operating Licence follows a series of recent route launches as Norwegian continues its huge UK growth. Earlier this month Norwegian launched its 5th transatlantic route from Gatwick with the UK’s only direct route to Puerto Rico offering passengers low-cost travel to the Caribbean for the first time. Also this month, two new routes were added at Birmingham Airport helping make Norwegian the fastest growing airline at Birmingham in 2015.

How Norwegian has grown in the UK:

April 2013: Norwegian establishes its first UK base at London Gatwick. More than 400 long-haul and short-haul crew and pilots are now based at the airport
July 2014: Norwegian introduces the UK’s first low-cost, long-haul flights to the U.S. Flights from Gatwick to New York, Los Angeles, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale cost from £149
Summer 2015: Norwegian sees its busiest ever summer in the UK with over one million passengers between June and September and over 500 flights per week to and from UK airports
September 2015: in the 12 months from October 2014 to September 2015 a total of 3,931,803 passengers flew with Norwegian to and from UK airports
October 2015 – in Norwegian’s third quarter results, the airline’s strongest growth in terms of passenger numbers was at Gatwick. Norwegian also announced an order for 19 new Dreamliner aircraft, the single largest order in Europe which will help quadruple Norwegian’s long-haul fleet
November 2015: Norwegian launches the UK’s only direct route to Puerto Rico. The new route from Gatwick will offer UK passengers low-cost travel to the Caribbean for the first time
November 2015: Further expansion at Birmingham and Edinburgh Airports with new flights to the Canary Islands. At Birmingham in particular, Norwegian has launched 5 new routes in less than a year making it one of the airport’s fastest growing airlines
First Quarter 2016: ‘Norwegian UK’ expected to begin operating from existing Gatwick base
May 2016: Boston will be added to Norwegian’s low-cost long-haul network, becoming the fifth US destination served from the UK
2017: Norwegian will be the European launch customer of new generation Boeing 737 MAX8 aircraft making it possible to connect smaller cities in the UK with destinations in the U.S.

http://www.aviator.aero/press_releases/ ... um=twitter

 

[Ray Finkle]

BHX flights are now bookable through until the end of October (they were previously only bookable until Aug). There looks to be no chance as yet in timings or frequencies.

 

[User001]

Madrid seems to have had a 3rd weekly flight added back in.

 

[nwoody2001]

good spot.... seems the aircraft switches from Tenerife to Madrid towards the end of March....

so presently, next summer is:

Madrid 3x weekly
Malaga 3x weekly
Barcelona 2x weekly (surprisingly low to my mind)
Tenerife 1x weekly
Gran Can. 1x weekly

Total 10x weekly flights until the end of October....

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's good to see that Norwegian are prepared to defend their position at BHX, given the competition now I wouldn't have been surprised at all if they dropped it altogether. It'll be an interesting one to watch with 11x weekly flights across three airlines.

I still think there will be further changes.

 

[DaveBham]

Having tried out Norwegian a few weeks back, I have to say there's no competition in terms of service. No hassling you with scratchcards, no frills whilst incorporating good use of technology (all the in flight benefits of say, BA's entertainment system, but on your own device, plus wifi). Attentive yet unintrusive service, and clean aircraft with plenty of legroom. Plus, unlike with many airlines, you can pre-book the exit row seats.