Aviation News - February 2016 UK

N

orwegian, one of Europe’s largest

low-cost carriers, has taken the

leap to operate long-haul services.

It currently has a  eet of eight

Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners and 91 737-800s

and  ies from 17 bases. And, as it continues

to expand, it’s picking up numerous awards

along the way.

The airline, headquartered at Fornebu

near Oslo, is very different today from its early

years. It was founded in 1993 when Bjørn

Kjos, the current CEO, and some of his pilot

friends took control of bankrupt Norwegian

carrier Busy Bee, which had  own Fokker 50s

as a subsidiary of Braathens SAFE.

The new company, named Norwegian

Air Shuttle (NAS), took over the leases of

three Fokker 50s (adding a fourth in 1995)

and started  ying services on behalf of

Braathens on the west coast of Norway. By

2001 the  eet had grown to seven aircraft.

In 2000 in a bid to diversify and reduce

reliance on Braathens, Norwegian Air

Shuttle bought two helicopter  rms,

Lufttransport of Norway and Ostermann

in Sweden. But it became apparent these

operators were not a good  t for NAS and

both were sold in 2005.

In January 2001, Braathens announced

it would stop a number of routes NAS was

 ying and reduce services on others. This

led to one of the Fokker 50s being put into

storage, but freed up aircraft for NAS to

start its own  ights – which began in 2002

with the launch of a Stavanger to Newcastle

service.

NORWEGIAN

AMBITIONS

Aviation News Editor Dino Carrara examines the rapid expansion

of low-cost carrier Norwegian and its growing long-haul network.

58 Aviation News incorporating Classic Aircraft February 2016

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