Norwegian Air UK

Norwegian Air UK Ltd was[2] a British low-cost airline and a fully integrated subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle, using its corporate identity. The airline operated Boeing 787-9 aircraft on scheduled services between Europe and the Americas from its base at Gatwick Airport. In January 2021, Norwegian Air Shuttle announced it would cease all long-haul operations, which included those of Norwegian Air UK.[2]

Norwegian Air UK Ltd
IATA ICAO Callsign
DI NRS REDNOSE
Founded2015
Commenced operations28 September 2017[1]
Ceased operations14 January 2021[2]
Operating basesLondon–Gatwick
Frequent-flyer programNorwegian Reward
Fleet size13
Destinations9
Parent companyNorwegian Air Shuttle
HeadquartersGatwick Airport, Crawley, United Kingdom
Key peopleBjørn Kjos
Websitewww.norwegian.com

History

In November 2015, the British civil aviation authorities issued Norwegian Air UK its air operator's certificate.[3] The following month, the airline applied to the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) for an exemption and a permit to begin flights to the country. In June 2016 however, the USDOT denied Norwegian Air UK's request for an exemption, which would have allowed the airline to start flights to the United States while its foreign air-carrier permit (FACP) remained under review.[4] Meanwhile, the department placed the airline's application for a FACP on hold. The USDOT stated that it needed more time to review issues raised by various labour unions, such as the claim that Norwegian Air UK would violate labour laws by employing flight crew based in East Asia.[5] In July 2017, the USDOT approved Norwegian Air UK's application for its foreign air-carrier permit, citing the airline's commitments to hire crew based in the United States and the EU.[6]

The airline's first services under its own air operator's certificate and IATA/ICAO codes (DI and NRS) were from Oslo Gardermoen to Barcelona, Málaga and Nice in September 2017,[7] prior to its regularly scheduled services from London Gatwick to Singapore later that month and from London Gatwick to Buenos Aires Ezeiza in February 2018.[8][9] From 25 March 2018, the airline began operating the rest of the Norwegian group's long haul routes from London Gatwick to the United States, which were previously operated by Norwegian Long Haul on behalf of parent company Norwegian Air Shuttle.[10]

In March 2020, the airline's fleet, along with much of the fleet of its associated parent and sister companies, was placed into storage due to the reduction in travel demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on aviation. In October 2020, the airline's operations were scheduled to resume starting in March 2021 from its London Gatwick base to Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Orlando, and San Francisco, and to Austin in May 2021, in anticipation of the pandemic's impacts subsiding.[11]

However, in January 2021 Norwegian announced that its long-haul operations, including all services from the United Kingdom, would not be resuming, and that the UK subsidiary would be put into liquidation.[12][2][13]

Destinations
Main article: List of Norwegian Air Shuttle destinations

Norwegian Air UK served the following destinations as of January 2021:[14]

Country City Airport Notes Refs
ArgentinaBuenos AiresMinistro Pistarini International AirportTerminated
BrazilRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro–Galeão International AirportTerminated[15]
SingaporeSingaporeSingapore Changi AirportTerminated[16]
United KingdomLondonGatwick AirportBase
United States AustinAustin–Bergstrom International Airport
BostonLogan International Airport
ChicagoO'Hare International AirportTerminated[17]
DenverDenver International AirportSeasonal[17]
Fort LauderdaleFort Lauderdale–Hollywood International AirportTerminated[18]
Las VegasMcCarran International AirportTerminated[19]
Los AngelesLos Angeles International Airport
MiamiMiami International Airport[18]
New York CityJohn F. Kennedy International Airport
OaklandOakland International AirportTerminated[18]
OrlandoOrlando International Airport
San FranciscoSan Francisco International Airport[18]
SeattleSeattle–Tacoma International AirportTerminated
TampaTampa International AirportTerminated

Fleet
Norwegian Air UK Boeing 787-9.

As of January 2021 (at the time of closure), Norwegian Air UK's fleet comprised the following aircraft, following its initial storage on 21 March 2020:[20][21]

Norwegian Air UK fleet
Aircraft In
service		 Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Boeing 787-9 13 — 56 282 338
Total 13 —

Historical fleet

Norwegian Air UK has previously operated the following aircraft:[21]

References
  1. "Norwegian begins flights between London Gatwick and Singapore – anna.aero joins carrier to celebrate its first Asian route from the UK". anna.aero. PPS Publications. 29 September 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  2. Philip, Siddharth Vikram (14 January 2021). "Norwegian Air Gives Up Long-Haul Flying in Plan to Exit Insolvency". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  3. "Norwegian UK secures AOC, eyes 1Q2016 launch". ch-aviation. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  4. Carey, Bill (1 July 2016). "U.S. DOT Denies Norwegian Air UK Foreign Carrier Exemption". AINonline. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  5. "DOT denies Norwegian UK exemption authority; prolongs FACP". ch-aviation. 4 July 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  6. "U.S. Department of Transportation Issues Order Proposing to Grant Authority to Norwegian Air UK". Transportation.gov. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  7. Liu, Jim (10 May 2017). "Norwegian Air UK Sep 2017 intra-Europe operations". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  8. Liu, Jim (20 April 2017). "Norwegian Air UK launches Singapore service from Sep 2017". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  9. Liu, Jim (22 June 2017). "Norwegian adds London – Buenos Aires service from Feb 2018". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  10. Liu, Jim (27 February 2018). "Norwegian moves forward Gatwick Long-Haul flight code switch to S18". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  11. McGinnis, Chris (31 October 2020). "Routes: Southwest expansion, Norwegian to SFO + Tampa, Mexico, JetBlue, SJC, SLC, more". SFGate. Hearst Communications. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  12. "Norwegian to abandon long-haul as it fights for survival". The Financial Times. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  13. Andrews, James (14 January 2021). "Norwegian air scraps long-haul network seeing 1,100 jobs lost at Gatwick". Daily Mirror. MGN Limited. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  14. "Route map". Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  15. "Norwegian launches the UK's cheapest flights to Brazil with a new route to Rio from £240". Norwegian.com (Press release). Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  16. Liu, Jim (10 September 2018). "Norwegian ends London – Singapore link in Jan 2019". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd.
  17. Silk, Robert (8 July 2019). "Norwegian Air makes several year-round routes seasonal". Travel Weekly. Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  18. "Norwegian announces new direct flights to Miami and San Francisco as part of new summer 2019 long-haul programme". Norwegian.com (Press release). Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  19. Noakes, Gary (1 July 2019). "Norwegian axes another US route". TTG Travel Industry News. TTG Media Limited. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  20. "GINFO Search Results Summary". Civil Aviation Authority. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2017. Aircraft operated by AOC holder Norwegian Air UK
  21. "Norwegian Air UK Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 9 January 2021.

Media related to Norwegian Air UK at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.