Press release - 21 April 2010 13:53

New ash inspection routines approved by the authorities

Norwegian is pleased that the authorities are now opening the airspace to normal flight operations and is committed to operating a normal schedule as soon as possible. The airline has put in place stringent technical aircraft inspection routines for detecting volcanic ash. These procedures were approved by the Civil Aviation Authority – Norway on Tuesday evening.

During a brief period, production will be below normal after which all flights will depart as previously scheduled, domestic flights within Scandinavia as well as to European destinations, provided that the airspace is kept open. At the same time, Norwegian will continue to fly home passengers stranded far from Scandinavia.

Safety always comes first
“Safety is Norwegian’s number-one priority, and we will never operate flights at the expense of safety. I am pleased that the aviation authorities have decided to lift the restrictions so we can now operate normally,” said Bjørn Kjos, CEO of Norwegian. “Just as we never fly in areas of heavy turbulence or icing, we will, of course, never fly in areas of volcanic ash.”

Approved inspection routines
Norwegian had new inspection routines approved by the Civil Aviation Authority – Norway on Tuesday evening.

“We are monitoring the situation closely and already have in place very strict routines for technical inspection and maintenance to detect potential volcanic ash,” said Kjos.

Stranded passengers brought home
“The closure of the airspace has been a heavy strain on our passengers. Thousands of passengers were, and still are, stranded abroad. I am happy that we are now able to fly them home,” said Kjos.

In recent days Norwegian has brought home over two thousand passengers from Malaga, Las Palmas, Alicante, Turkey, Crete, Cyprus and Lanzarote. The airline is continuing its effort to bring even more stranded passengers back to Scandinavia.

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Topics

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, commercially branded “Norwegian,” is a public low-cost airline noted on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The company is the second largest airline in Scandinavia, and has a route portfolio that stretches across Europe into North Africa and the Middle East. With competitive prices and customer friendly solutions and service, the company has experienced significant growth over the previous years. With more than 10.7 million passengers in 2009, Norwegian is the 4th largest low-cost airline in Europe. The turnover in 2009 was in excess of NOK 7.3 billion. Norwegian currently operates 52 aircraft on 230 routes to 91 destinations and employes approximately 2 000 people.

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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.