Norwegian Airlines, which saw its survival threatened after the outbreak of the pandemic, is considering reopening bases in the Canary Islands and making the Barcelona base, which is back in operation this year but only in the summer season, operate throughout the year.
This is explained in an interview with EFE by the company's CEO, Geir Karlsen, who this week visited the corporate offices that the airline has in Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona).
Two years ago, the airline closed its bases in Gran Canaria and Tenerife South, where 65 pilots and 121 cabin crew and ground staff work.
After reaching a critical situation due to its financial problems and the covid-19 crisis, Norwegian continues to recover and will use 77 aircraft for its operations this summer.
In the case of Spain, Karlsen indicates that "the market is working very well": "It is a very important market for us, especially beach destinations," he adds.
Strengthening El Prat and recovering bases
On May 1, Norwegian will reopen its base in Barcelona, closed as a result of the coronavirus crisis, which will operate during the summer season: it will have two aircraft and has hired about 70 workers for this purpose.
El Prat will join the permanent bases that the airline has maintained in Alicante and Málaga, with three aircraft each, and Karlsen points out the company's desire to make the Barcelona base operate in the near future throughout the year - initially, probably with only one aircraft for the winter season -.
The El Prat base will be short-haul, given that this airline no longer offers intercontinental routes: it previously operated six routes connecting Spain with the United States, five of them in Barcelona and one in Madrid.
Before covid-19, Norwegian also had permanent bases in Tenerife South and Gran Canaria - later adding two more in Palma de Mallorca and Madrid - so recovering the bases in the Canary Islands may be another step that the company takes in the medium term, admits the CEO of the firm.
Increase the offer to 4 million seats
In Spain, Norwegian employs about 700 people: 130 in its Barcelona offices - which serve the entire operation together with those in Oslo (Norway) and Riga (Latvia) -, about 210 dedicated to 'handling' work - operations at airports - and 350 crew members - a third of them pilots -.
For this summer, Norwegian has scheduled 49 routes between Spain and the Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland), which amount to 62 throughout 2023, and offers 4 million seats for the entire year.
On April 20, the airline celebrated 20 years in Spain, a period during which it has transported 50 million passengers, 3.14 million of them in 2022.
For the moment, it does not plan to offer internal connections in Spain or to other European countries, but Karlsen does not completely close the door: "It is possible that we will see it in the future."
