Press release - 5 October 2010 08:25

Norwegian expands in Finland with 100 weekly flights

The airline Norwegian opens a Finnish base at Helsinki’s Vantaa airport. At the same time it introduces two domestic routes and expands the current international offer from two to eleven. Three aircraft will be based in Helsinki.

“We are happy to announce that we are increasing our presence in Finland by opening a new base in Helsinki and basing three of our aircraft here. Norwegian entered the Finnish market in April, and after a mere five months our Helsinki-Oslo and Helsinki-Stockholm routes have proven to be a great success. We believe that both the Finnish business and leisure traveller are ready for more fares that everyone can afford to both domestic and international destinations” said Norwegian’s CEO, Bjørn Kjos.

As the second largest airline in Scandinavia and the third largest low cost airline in Europe, Norwegian serves a total of 238 routes to 93 destinations both domestic and international.

Two domestic destinations
By entering the Finnish domestic market, Norwegian further increases its foothold as a major Nordic player. Today, the airline has domestic operations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The new Finnish routes include Helsinki-Oulu and Helsinki-Rovaniemi. Four daily flights will serve the Helsinki-Oulu route and one daily flight will operate between Helsinki and Rovaniemi. The first flight departs March 31 2011.

11 international destinations
Norwegian has since late April 2010 operated several daily flights between Helsinki and Stockholm and Helsinki and Oslo. Spring 2011 Norwegian introduces nine new international destinations departing from Helsinki’s Vantaa airport: Copenhagen, Malaga, Nice, Crete (Chania), Rome, Barcelona, London Gatwick, Split and Alicante.

Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday October 6 at 1 pm CET. Prices start at €29 to domestic destinations as well as to typical business and urban holiday destinations in continental Europe. The longer routes to Southern Europe start at €59. Domestic routes go into operation on March 31, whereas international routes start in early to mid May.

Contacts:
Chief Commercial Officer Daniel Skjeldam, tel: + 47 907 42 073
Communications Manager Åsa Larsson, tel: + 46 73 522 2242

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 238 routes to 93 destinations and employes approximately 2 000 people.

Contacts

For journalists only

Press contact Norwegian Press Office press@norwegian.com +47 815 11 816

Marketing/sponsorhip requests: marketing@norwegian.com

Press contact Marketing/sponsorship requests: marketing@norwegian.com

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.