Norwegian History from Domestic to Global Airline
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Norwegian History From domestic to global airline Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Fornebu, Norway (just outside Oslo), Norwegian has rapidly grown from a small domestic airline to become the largest airline in Scandinavia, third largest low cost carrier in Europe and fifth largest in the world. Not only the fastest growing airline in the world, Norwegian is also the world’s most awarded low-cost airline. Norwegian launched its long-haul operations in 2013 and was the first low-cost carrier to provide transatlantic service between several destinations in the United States and Europe. In fact, Norwegian offers more nonstop service to Europe than any other European airline. Since launching transatlantic service in 2013, Norwegian has carried almost 10 million passengers between the U.S. and Europe, of which more than half traveled on routes served only by Norwegian. In 2015, the airline will also launch service between the U.S. and the French Caribbean, and in 2018, Norwegian launched its first Canadian operation. 1993 Norwegian is established. The airline starts operating flights on the west coast of Norway with Fokker F-50s in cooperation with Braathens S.A.F.E. This cooperation lasts until 2002. 2002 Launched domestic routes in Norway with Boeing 737-300 aircraft as SAS’ purchase of Braathens S.A.F.E. terminates Norwegian’s west coast operation. 2003 Norwegian listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The company is listed on the stock exchange and raises 250 million NOK (Norwegian kroner) in an oversubscribed offering. 2004 Started codeshare agreement with FlyNordic and Sterling. Norwegian and Finnair-owned FlyNordic start codesharing on the Stockholm-Oslo route. Sterling and Norwegian kick off codeshare agreement on 13 of the companies’ European routes from Norway. 2005 CEO Bjørn Kjos announced Norwegian’s first profitable year. 2006 Flights from Warsaw to five European cities commence, with two aircraft are based in Poland. 2007 Acquired FlyNordic from Finnair. The acquisition further strengthened Norwegian’s position in the Nordic and European markets. Stockholm became home to the company’s Swedish base. • Placed an order with Boeing to purchase 42 737-800 aircraft. The order is the largest of its kind in Europe in 2007 and the largest ever in Scandinavia. • Bank Norwegian is launched as a full-scale online bank, and Norwegian Reward enables customers to earn so-called cash points on Bank Norwegian credit card transactions. 2008 • Inaugural flights from London to Los Angeles, New York and Delivery of first Boeing 737-800 next generation aircraft. The Fort Lauderdale commenced in July. new planes reduced fuel consumption and emissions by more • Norwegian ordered an additional four new 787-9 Dreamliner than 20 percent. In addition, the passenger capacity increased aircraft in February. from 148 to 186/189. Norwegian is positioned at the forefront as an environmentally-conscious airline. 2015 • Norwegian entered the Danish market and opened a Norwegian continues to expand at Orlando with flights to Copenhagen base, where it quickly became the second largest Copenhagen and London. operating airline. • Norwegian named Best European Low-Cost Airline for a third consecutive year by SkyTrax, and also Best Long-Haul Low- 2009 Cost Carrier in the world. Norwegian received the airline industry’s equivalent of an • Adds Las Vegas s U.S. gateway “Oscar” with the prestigious Market Leadership Award from Air • The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) Transport World. named Norwegian the Most Fuel-Efficient Airline on Trans- • Delivery of the first Norwegian-owned B737-800. The aircraft, atlantic Routes whose tail is adorned with an image of the Norwegian actor • In December, service to both Guadeloupe and Martinique in Erik Bye, began commercial service in September. the French Caribbean commenced. • Launched 39 new routes from Denmark and increased the amount of Copenhagen-based aircraft from seven to nine. 2016 • Norwegian’s best year, ever. Announced annual earnings Norwegian adds Boston to London in March, followed by Oslo (profit after taxes) in excess of 446 million NOK, and 10.8 in April and Copenhagen in May. million customers flew with the airline, an 18% year-on-year • Orders 30 Airbus A321 Long-Range aircraft, first to be increase in passenger growth. delivered in 2019. • In July, the airline wil launch flights from three U.S. to Paris: 2010 Fort Lauderdale, New York and Los Angeles. Awarded gold and silver in the prestigious Skytrax Airline • Commences flights from Fort Lauderdale to Guadeloupe. Customer Survey, with customers naming Norwegian the second best airline in Northern Europe and the third best 2017 low-cost airline in Europe. Norwegian becomes the first airline in the world to operate the • Swedish actress Greta Garbo and Danish author Hans Boeing 737 MAX to/from the US when it launches service its Christian Andersen introduced as its first non-Norwegian “tail MAX transatlantic operation from Providence and Stewart to heroes”. Ireland, Scotland and Norway. • Norwegian confirmed an order of an additional 15 737-800s • First U.S. tailfin hero, Benjamin Franklin, followed by So- from Boeing, to be delivered between 2014 and 2016. journor Truth, Clara Barton and Babe Ruth this year. Norwegian already had a pending order of 48 state-of-the-art • Adds Seattle, Denver in the U.S. and Barcelona and Rome in 737-800s from Boeing that were continually delivered until Europe to its long-haul network. 2014. • Partners with easyJet for ‘Worldwide by easyJet’ program. • Named ’Airline of the Year’ by CAPA, the Centre for Aviation. 2011 First airline to offer in-flight Wi-Fi on European routes. By the 2018 end of 2012, the entire fleet of 737-800s was connected. Norwegian enters the Canadian market launch long-haul flights • Opened new base in Helsinki, and launched domestic routes from Boston to London in March, followed by Oslo in April and and 11 international routes. Copenhagen in May. • Signed agreement to purchase three Boeing 787-8 Dream- • Named ’Value Airline of the Year’ by Air Transport World. liner long-haul aircraft. In addition, Norwegian entered into an • Opened cabin crew base at LAX and 787 pilot base in Fort agreement to lease one additional Dreamliner. At ths date, Lauderdale. Norwegian now has six Dreamliner aircraft on order. • Adds Chicago, Austin and Tampa in the U.S., and Amsterdam and Madrid in Europe to its long-haul network. 2012 • Named The World’s Best Low-Cost Long-Haul Airline by Norwegian signed the largest ever agreement in European Skytrax for the fourth consecutive year, and Europe’s Best aviation history. The order included 122 aircraft from Boeing Low-Cost Airline for the sixth year in a row. and 100 aircraft from Airbus. The orders were for 22 Boeing • Norwegian Founder and CEO Bjørn Kjos received U.S. 737-800, 100 Boeing 737 MAX-8 and 100 Airbus A320neo Ambassador’s Award for strengthening bilateral relations aircraft. between Norway and the U.S. • The ICCT named Norwegian the Most Fuel-Efficient Airline 2013 on Transatlantic Routes for a second time in its follow up study. Norwegian became the first airline in Europe to offer in-flight • Norwegian Air Argentina launched domestic service within movie and TV rentals. The service is available on all of the Argentina. company’s Wi-Fi-enabled aircraft. • Launched its first-ever flight from Canada, with service from • In May 2013, Norwegian’s first long-haul flight took off from Montreal to both Guadeloupe and Martinique. Oslo to New York and Bangkok. Flights from Fort Lauderdale to Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm followed. 2019 • Norwegian named “Best European Low-Cost Carrier” by the Norwegan to launch its first transatlantic service from Canada, renowned Skytrax World Airline Awards. with Hamilton-Dublin service on March 31, 2019. • Will add Miami and San Francisco, bringing the total of U.S. 2014 airports served to 17. In February, Norwegian was granted an Irish AOC for its subsidiary Norwegian Air International Limited (NAI), based in Dublin. • U.S expansion includes New York and Copenhagen service in February, followed by service from Los Angeles to Stock- holm, Oslo and Copenhagen; from Oakland/ to Stockholm and Oslo; and from Orlando to Oslo..