Saturday, June 24, 2017

Norwegian to launch London-Buenos Aires route

Low-cost carrier Norwegian will launch 4X-weekly London Gatwick-Buenos Aires Ezeiza services from Feb. 14, marking the airline’s first-ever South American route.

Buenos Aires will become Norwegian’s 11th long-haul route from Gatwick as part of its continued expansion from the UK into a range of new global markets.

The LCC currently offers long-haul flights from Gatwick to nine US cities and Singapore.

Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos said, “From Europe, the US, Asia and now South America, our long-haul network is going global and the UK will continue to be at the heart of our ambitious plans for expansion. We also see huge potential in the Argentinian market so this is not only a major milestone as our first South American route, but also a first step toward ambitious plans for international and domestic growth in Argentina.”

The new London-Argentina route will be operated by its Norwegian UK (NUK) subsidiary, which was established in 2015 to give the airline a stronger foothold in the UK market. NUK also allows the carrier to access bilateral traffic rights to a series of new markets in Asia, Africa and South America.

NUK is headquartered at London Gatwick, and will use British-registered aircraft and Gatwick-based crew to operate the new services.

In January, Norwegian also established an Argentinian subsidiary, Norwegian Air Argentina, with plans for a considerable operation in Argentina, including domestic flights.

“Norwegian’s new direct route to Buenos Aires shows the low-cost, long-haul revolution continues to break new ground. The boom in these routes is a major factor in Gatwick, recording the second largest increase in direct connectivity of any European airport over the last five years,” Gatwick Airport CEO Stewart Wingate said.

Norwegian carries more than 5 million UK passengers each year from five UK airports, to over 50 destinations.


(Kurt Hofmann - ATWOnline News)

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