Press release -
Norwegian forced to furlough an additional 1,600 employees following the government’s decision not to give further support
Norwegian is forced to furlough employees and reduce capacity considerably following the government’s decision to not support the company financially to get through the corona crisis while simultaneously imposing travel restrictions that actively discourage passengers from travelling. The consequences of the government-imposed travel restrictions are critical and Norwegian needs to keep its running costs to a minimum, while the company continues to work on solutions to survive.
«Following today’s disappointing announcement from the government, we have no choice but to furlough an additional 1,600 colleagues and park 15 of the 21 aircraft we’ve operated the past months. Recently government-imposed travel restrictions have effectively stifled any hope of a stable and progressive recovery, Norwegian has been hit from all sides by factors outside of our control. This is a sad day for everyone at Norwegian and I sincerely apologise to all our colleagues that are now affected, but there is no other alternative. Prior to Covid-19, Norwegian employed more than 10,000 people, but the coming months there will be only 600 colleagues employed. Our goal is to keep six aircraft on domestic routes in Norway, and I expect that Norwegian will also receive route support from the Ministry of Transportation, as previously announced,” said CEO Jacob Schram of Norwegian.
Unfortunately, the significant route reduction will also affect customers who have already booked a flight with Norwegian.
“We will do everything we can to offer affected customers alternative travel option and I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by this situation. All affected customers will be notified by us directly,” said Schram.
These routes will be operated
Oslo – Alta
Oslo – Bergen
Oslo – Bodø
Oslo – Evenes
Oslo – Haugesund
Oslo – Kirkenes
Oslo – Molde
Oslo – Stavanger
Oslo – Tromsø
Oslo – Trondheim
Oslo – Ålesund
Tromsø – Longyearbyen
Topics
About Norwegian
The Norwegian story began over 27 years ago - we were founded in 1993 but only began operating as a low-cost carrier with bigger Boeing 737 aircraft in 2002. Norwegian expanded across the globe as the airline launched short-haul services across Europe and then entered the long-haul sector serving the US, Asia and South America. We operate a modern and fuel-efficient fleet consisting of Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Boeing 737s.
We were the first airline in the world to join the UN Climate Secretariat’s climate action-initiative in 2019, pledging to work systematically to become carbon neutral by 2050.
From being voted for six consecutive years as Europe’s Best Low Cost airline and for five consecutive years as the World’s Best Low Cost Long Haul Airline by Skytrax to winning Airline Program of the Year Europe & Africa for the fourth consecutive year at the 2020 Freddie Awards - In total Norwegian has won over 55 awards for our service, product and innovation in the industry since 2012.
Norwegian has become part of the fabric of Nordic culture and we take great pride in exporting our Nordic values across the world.
