Norwegian Air ends long haul flights

Norwegian will no longer operate its 37 Boeing 787 Dreamliners

Norwegian Air has decide to scrap all its long haul flights and concentrate entirely on its short haul network.

The airline will fly a range of domestic routes in Norway, across the Nordics and to ‘key European destinations’. Southern Spain, especially the Canaries in winter, will likely be in that category.

The embattled carrier plans to serve these markets with around 50 narrow body aircraft in operation in 2021 and to increase that number to around 70 narrow body aircraft in 2022.

Norwegian has 85 Boeing 737-800 and 18 Boeing 737 MAX 8. They didn’t say if they will be using the 737 MAX 8.

This also means the end of the airline’s fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft. Due to the COVID-19 virus, Norwegian’s entire Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet has been grounded since March 2020.

Before the virus, Norwegian flew long haul routes to the US, South America and Asia. The airline says that future demand for long haul remains highly uncertain and so will not continue these routes.

About 2150 jobs will be lost in the UK, France, Italy and the USA. About 1100 will go at Gatwick alone.

N.B. Image credit: Norwegian Air

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