Norwegian celebrates 20 years of international flights

On 5 April 2003, three Norwegian aircraft took off from Oslo Airport Gardermoen in the direction of Portugal and Spain. This marked the start of the company’s international venture and a milestone in the company’s history.

The first international flights went to Faro in Portugal as well as Malaga and Murcia in Spain. During these years, around 17 million customers have travelled with Norwegian between Norway and Portugal and Spain.

“The routes we launched at the time were well received, and thanks to continued trust from customers, we have been able to expand the route network and our offer year after year. From the first routes to Portugal and Spain, this summer we fly to 116 destinations, of which 13 are completely new this year, says Magnus Thome Maursund, commercial director at Norwegian.”

20 years after the first international flight, Portugal and Spain continue to be holiday favourites for travel-loving Norwegians, and Norwegian is flying to three destinations in Portugal and nine destinations in Spain this summer. Porto is a completely new route this year, and the first departure is set for 23 June. From Norway, the company flies direct routes to Spain from Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Trondheim, Ålesund, Torp and Oslo.

Norwegian is the largest Norwegian airline and currently has approximately 4,500 employees. The majority of the employees are in Norway and are employed at the Norwegian bases in Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, and Stavanger or at the head office in Fornebu. The company also has employees at bases in the other Nordic countries and has offices in Riga and Barcelona as well as bases in Alicante and Malaga. Norwegian is thus an important employer in aviation, also in Spain, with around 650 employees. In 2022, the company had 18 million passengers.

Norwegian was established in September 2002 and then started with four domestic routes. This summer, the company will have 80 aircraft in operation, and operate 300 routes to 116 destinations.

This post was published on 5 April 2023 17:34